It is that time of the year again. The results for class 10 and 12 and other competitive exams are out. Students are stressed and their parents, hyper-stressed. This creates a highly tense atmosphere at home. It may lead to both short and long-term consequences on the mental health of the children and their parents. One would think that this would be the case only in the homes of students who didn’t do well but it is not so. There is a profound effect on the minds of the toppers if the appreciation they are given is not handled well. We will discuss it later on.
When students don’t perform well or up to their expectations, they are often chastised and scolded. Parents tell them that society won’t respect them, society tries to ignore them, and their mind starts actually to believe all of this criticism. This makes them live a life believing they are failures and that it could all have been better if that one result had been better. But one result doesn’t influence the whole life of an individual, and if it does, there is always the option of improvement later on.
The thing about society’s expectations is that it always increases. First, you need to get a good result to be respectable, and then you need admission to a good college. Once you get into an undergraduate program, you will be told that the UG degree doesn’t matter. You will be told it is all about the postgraduate degree. After the PG degree, it is more important to get a job and then to settle down and all those shenanigans. If you keep trying to meet the expectations of the society, you will never find your true self.
The surprising thing about results is that it has a negative effect on the toppers as well. When the results come out, they are on cloud nine owing to the attention and appreciation they get. This soon starts to fade away, and the topper is left in the lurch. It might make them think that whether success is permanent as they had been taught or transient as they just witnessed. It might lead to them questioning the purpose of all the hard work and effort. The work which was forgotten in less than a month. It might lead to lower efficiency and self-belief. There are many instances of toppers failing to recreate their previous success in new places. Along with complacency, the factor of lack of purpose also plays a major role in that. Toppers are celebrated a lot and yet easily forgotten.
Examination results are major life events for a student. They cause stress, anxiety, uncertainty, euphoria, despair and the whole range of human emotions at once. To both the toppers and under-achievers, it is important that you know that the result is transient. Next year, there will be another batch and another topper and another child who failed. It will go on, and ultimately it will all be forgotten. If the exam meant a lot, you would always have the option to improve multiple times. If it didn’t, well the sooner it’s over and forgotten, the better.
It is important to strive for success but not at the cost of your mental well being. You have a long life ahead of yourself. Don’t let one result deter you or make you over-confident about the road to success.
The road is long, and there will be many obstacles, don’t be afraid of facing them.