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If you are a parent of a teen who has just appeared for her
board exams, you will know exactly what it feels like when the results are
about to be declared. It’s like waiting for your own results. Only this time,
you are not a carefree teen but a worry-wart adult plagued by ifs and buts and what
will the world and its aunt think if your child scores an abysmal 85%. Even Mrs
Chatterjee’s useless son scored a 97%! Oh, the triumphant look in her eyes when
she distributed sweets in the neighbourhood. Too bad she got the mithai from a
third rate halwai.
The thing is, we all seem to think scoring in 90’s is a
breeze, till it’s your own teen’s turn to appear for her boards. It’s then you find
out how much pressure we put on our kids by making abnormally high scores the
new normal. Fact is only those who score high share it on social media. The
rest keep mum. Consider this. Out of a total of 1,067,900 candidates registered
for this year for class 12 exam, 89,000 students scored more than 90% in
aggregate. Which means only 8% managed to breach the 90’s barrier.
So, where does it leave the remaining 92%? Why don’t we talk
about them? Why don’t newspapers follow their life journeys and come out with
reassuring stories that scoring ‘low’ was not the end of their life? I wish
more and more parents would tell their children that marks secured in exams do
not define them. A child who obtains 78% may have a better grasp of a select
few subjects and the ones who score a 99% may simply be able to memorise better.
Many school teachers have mastered training their students in the art of
answering correctly. Plus, the structure of the question papers is such that some
students can work around the format and get high scores. Your exam score is certainly
not the only indicator of your intelligence or the lack of it.
They will tell you high scores let you pick and choose the
subject and college of your choice. Sadly this is not always true. When anyone
who does reasonably well in exams opts for a handful of courses in a handful of
premier colleges, there’s a mad scramble for their limited seats and not
everyone manages to get in. It’s quite likely
that after battling stress and anxiety and studying for 12 hours a day for months,
you secure 95% and will still not get into the college of your choice.
It’s not your fault. You did your best. But so did 7,000 odd
students who scored above 95%.
