The heartbreaking post, which appeared on Reddit, has gone viral, triggering a nationwide discussion on the high level of academic pressure and toxic parenting cultures that permeate society. A student said that their father broke their laptop after they received a score of 57% in the board exam. Thousands of young people online have taken note of the incident, and it has brought to light the unrealistic expectations, the lack of emotional support and emotional distance that can contribute to a mental health crisis during exam season.
Academic Stress: The Hidden Cost
This viral post isn’t an exception, but it is a symptom of a systemic crisis that is deeply entrenched in the country:
Parents always consider board examinations as the key to a child’s future, and no other career is discussed; there is no space for emotional healing. The same story has been reported by many students online, and it appears that the punishment of personal property (phones, laptops or books) is a disturbing trend that is being used to instil guilt and fear into students.
These incidents have direct consequences, resulting in serious mental illness among teenagers, such as anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. According to research, most students’ stress arises during exam periods, not due to the syllabus but because of their fear of failing exams, so as to discipline them by their parents.
What Is the Reason for This Toxic Pattern?
The extreme reaction to a 57% rating is due to social standing and old-fashioned parental attitudes:
- Academic Status Symbol: In larger families and social groups, the academic achievement of a child may be a parent’s pride and a status symbol.
- Severe Empathy Gap: When parents have no empathy, and this trait is carried on from generation to generation, where discipline, control and numbers are more important than mental health and emotional safety of the child.
- Absence of coping mechanisms: Many parents don’t realise how disappointed they are, or are fearful about what the future will look like for their children, and destructively express their fear or anxiety.
The Psychological Toll: Breaking up a Child’s Trust
The violence and destruction wrought by parental achievement at the behest of academic success truly go to the level of destruction:
- Extreme reactions: Learned Helplessness, often a child becomes helpless and gives up on making any changes.
- Identity Destruction: It becomes a child’s identity is erased, and it’s just a percentage. As that number decreases, they feel superfluous, they feel unneeded, and that they are nothing to their family. When that number drops, whether it’s poverty or feeling left out or whether it’s that they’re no longer needed, they feel unneeded, they feel superfluous to their family.
- A Safe Haven: Home should be a safe place. When a parent is critical towards grades, child-parent rapport is lost.
