For thousands of Bangladeshi teenagers, the publication of SSC results is more than just a performance review; it is a moment when many begin measuring themselves against everyone around them. While a good result brings celebration, a score that falls short of expectations can lead to disappointment, embarrassment, and the painful feeling of falling behind. For many students, the question is not simply, “How did I do?” but, “How did I do compared to everyone else?”
The results of this year's SSC and equivalent examinations have once again turned academic achievement into a national conversation. Students compare marks with classmates, siblings, and cousins. Parents may compare their children with neighbours' children. Schools celebrate their highest achievers, and social media fills with photographs of smiling students holding result sheets, certificates, and bouquets.
There is nothing wrong with celebrating success. Students who have worked hard deserve to be proud. However, in a society where academic results are often treated as a measure of intelligence, potential, and family honour, result day can become a source of painful comparison for those who did not achieve what they or others expected.
This is where the psychology of social comparison becomes relevant.
First proposed by psychologist Leon Festinger, Social Comparison Theory suggests that people naturally evaluate themselves by comparing their abilities and achievements with those of others. We look around us to understand where we stand, and regarding examination results, there is no shortage of people against whom a young student can measure themselves.
A student who receives a good result may still feel disappointed after discovering that a close friend scored higher. Someone who passes with respectable grades may feel like a failure after seeing classmates announce their GPA-5s online. Another student may wonder why they could not do as well as their cousin, sibling, or neighbour.
This is known as upward social comparison: comparing ourselves with people we perceive to be doing better. It can sometimes motivate us to work harder, but it can also foster feelings of inadequacy, particularly when we view another person's achievement as evidence of our own failure.
Social media has made this comparison harder to escape. In the past, a student might have known the results of their classmates and a few relatives. Today, result day can mean opening Facebook or Instagram and seeing dozens of success stories within minutes. Students watch classmates posing with flowers, parents proudly announcing results, schools celebrating top performers, and relatives congratulating one another.
What they do not see, however, is the entire story behind those results.
They do not see the student who got a GPA-5 but spent months struggling with anxiety. They do not see the student who performed brilliantly in one subject but struggled in another. They do not see the hours of studying, family circumstances, financial difficulties, personal struggles, or countless other factors that shape a student's performance. Social media presents the outcome, not the journey.
Yet, young people can easily compare someone else's most visible success with their own private disappointment.
This is particularly troubling because SSC results arrive at a vulnerable stage of life. Teenagers are trying to understand who they are, what they are good at, and what kind of future they want. If they are repeatedly told, directly or indirectly, that their academic performance determines their worth, a disappointing result can become more than just a grade. It can feel like a judgement on their intelligence or their future.
Parents, too, have an important role. It is understandable that parents want their children to perform well. But asking, “How much did you get?” is not the same as asking, “How are you feeling?” And asking, “Why did your friend get more?” can turn a moment of reflection into a lesson in inadequacy.
A teenager who has worked hard but failed to achieve the expected grade does not necessarily need another comparison. They may need reassurance that one examination does not define their abilities or determine the rest of their life.
This does not mean academic achievement does not matter. It does. Education can open doors, and students should be encouraged to take their studies seriously. However, there is a difference between valuing education and reducing a young person's worth to a number on a result sheet.
We should also question the culture that turns every academic milestone into a competition. Why must every achievement be ranked? Why must a student's success be understood through the question of whether someone else did better? And why do we so often celebrate the highest achievers while overlooking the students who may have fought equally difficult battles simply to pass?
The problem with constant comparison is that there will always be someone ahead. There will always be someone with a higher GPA, a better university, a more impressive job, a bigger salary, or a seemingly more successful life. If self-worth is built around being ahead of others, there can never be a finish line.
The SSC result is one milestone in a long journey. For some, the result may open doors they have dreamed of walking through. For others, it may force them to reconsider their plans. Some may be thrilled, some disappointed, and some may simply be relieved that the uncertainty is over. All of these feelings are valid.
What we should not do is turn another person's success into evidence of our own failure.
Students deserve the space to celebrate their achievements without being made to feel superior to others, and those who are disappointed deserve the space to recover without being made to feel inferior. The lesson we need to teach our young people is not that results do not matter, but that results are only one part of who they are.
After all, the GPA that feels so important today will eventually become just a line on a resume. What should remain is a young person's confidence, curiosity, resilience, and belief that their future is still theirs to shape.
