On the morning of July 1st, the 2026 high school graduation exam scores were announced. In a small apartment in Tam Thanh ward, Lang Son province, Ms. Lan has been almost up all night from the night before. On the dining table, she placed a phone and a paper recording her daughter's registration number.
Her husband, Mr. Quang, went out to the balcony and then back into the house. He told his child to "just calm down", but he himself kept looking at the clock.
In the corner of the room, Mai - their daughter - sat quietly, holding her hands tightly. The little girl had just passed the important exam after 12 years of study, but her face was still full of tension.
At 8 am, the lookup system opened. After a few reloads, the exam scores appeared. The whole family was silent.
Mai's results were not too low, but Math was lower than expected. Her aspiration to enter the communications major of a university in Hanoi became precarious. Mai bowed her head and said softly: "I'm sorry, parents.
That apology made Ms. Lan stop. For the past year, she has been the one who takes her child to extra classes, prepares each meal, reminds her child to go to bed early, and wakes her child up to review lessons.
She once imagined that the day she knew her score would be a light morning. But when the results were not as expected, the clearest thing was not her disappointment, but the fear in her child's eyes.
Many parents, like Ms. Lan, place many expectations on their children's exams. Each score is not only an academic result, but also associated with effort, money, evenings waiting for their children outside the gate of extra classes, times when the whole family gives each other quiet time for their children to review for the exam.
Therefore, when exam scores do not meet expectations, adults easily blurt out blaming their children. "Why is that?", "Parents have invested so much?", "Do you know the opportunity is lost?".
Those sayings may stem from worry, but for a child who has just overcome exam pressure, it is like being scored again in their own family.
Mai sat silently, not daring to look at her parents. Mr. Quang opened the score sheet, recalculated the admission combination, and then put down his phone. He said slowly: "This point is not what I expected, but it's not the end either. Have breakfast, son, and then the whole family will think about it.
After the exam scores, what I need most is not comparisons with friends or "other people's children". I need adults to be calm enough to look at reality together, whether to re-examine, whether to adjust aspirations, which major is more suitable, what I really want.
An exam can change plans, but should not hurt family feelings. Scores will then be entered into the admission system. Wishes will have a chance to be rearranged. But memories of the morning of knowing scores can stay in a child's heart for a long time.
