Social: Mom Proud on Son Scoring 60%; Facebook Post Goes Viral

Recently a mother's Facebook post went viral (i.e.  shared indiscreetly by too many) and the news got huge media coverage.

In her post, the mother tells the world that she is 'super proud' that her son has scored 60% in Class 10 board exam. That she knows enough maths to understand that 60 is less than 90 which kids of people from her social status are expected to get but she does not care. Simply because the boy was such a pathetic student that he was almost a quitter (meant he would have reappeared in exam next year with better %) but decided to study well in last 1.5 months to be able to crack it. That she felt her son was like a fish and passing an exam was like asking a fish to climb a tree. And she wished her son good luck in keeping his goodness and wicked sense of humor alive.

Her post got 15K likes, 7K shares and 2K comments. Her Facebook profile tells that she is the founder of two companies, mother of two sons and studied at Hindu College (DU). The cutoff marks for BSc in Hindu College last year was 98%.

Does celebration of her Facebook post really prove that our society has finally learnt to accept people as they are and does not try anymore to fit them into hypothetical molds? Have we already changed into people we should be? I doubt that.

First, mothers being proud of their loser sons is nothing new. History would tell you that Mother India in a movie was an outlier who punished her son for being different (yes, in modern world, that is how you define people like bandits). The truth is that mothers love their sons no matter what they do. Keep wondering if this is their natural instinct or some parental game of soft power (let me be popular while father be the enforcer of law a.k.a. dictator). So there is no surprise if a mother supports her son after he scores bad marks.

Secondly, there have always been all kinds of students. This year around 91% students passed CBSE 10th exam; last year only 87% had passed. There have always been students who celebrated even if they just passed the exam (cutoff is getting min. 33% marks). So why the bravado at this lady's case? Our social behavior tells about an ugly fact - kids of rich people going to expensive schools are not expected to fail. But if you send your kids to expensive schools and spend so much money on them; and they still gets 60% marks; anyone would feel a bit disappointed. But a Facebook post won't let us know that.

The mother would like us to believe that the education system is at fault if her son scored bad marks (as if it asks fish to climb trees). I wonder why no poor kid tells the same. The mother would like us to believe that her son's last 1.5 month's of study was some kind of Rocky moment where heroes rise to the occasion at the climax. We know that to study at the very last moment is a pretty common pattern. The mother would like us to believe that somehow her son's innate cuteness, curiosity and funny bones are things to be rated over some % of marks. We know that all kids are cute, curious and make fun - it does not prove or disapprove anything.

In some ways, the Facebook mother's 'super proud' post tells about a sad sentiment. Rich people think that their kids would get away with scoring less marks because of their parent's money and power. There is no other way to explain a super proud feeling after seeing poor marks. And in a way, the Facebook mother's post tells that mothers support their sons no matter how good or bad they are. And this has done more harm to the world than good. The above two points are my only two takeaways from her Facebook post. Call it an anti-climax.

- Rahul Tiwary

Disclaimer: I do believe exams put much pressure on kids and parents should support them. But at the age of 15, a kid should know how to cope up with it. And I still believe that we should be honest and instead of criticizing the challenges and justifying our failures we should be pushing ourselves to do better.