Humans are, like any other animal species, are competitive by nature. The drive varies from person to person, but take for example a classroom where the teacher asks a question and student A and B raise their hands. Student A answers it correctly and is congratulated, the latter is wrong and hence receives consolation rather than a pat on the back. There is an innate desire in student B, henceforth, to outdo student A--he compares himself to student A when it comes to anything, like how he takes his notes, how he listens to the teacher, which subjects he is strong in, etc. This is a heightened state of affairs, but you'll see that it is true. When we're children we idolize our parents, try to be like them since we see them as a comparison of who we want to be. As we grow older we look up to our teachers, the top students of the class and our favorite cartoon characters. It soon becomes a battle for identity once we enter teenage because then, we're trying to define ourselves as someone we are, and not something we can compare ourselves to. Even then we look up to activities, peers and ideals we find are worth us and then we compare ourselves to them, like seeing someone popular at school who you think is an ideal person, smoking, you might be compelled to think it's not a bad idea.
This is also how social norms and ideals come to be. People unconsciously decide what's moral and immoral, likeable or not likeable and we carry it on. It's actually animal instinct--just a refined form of the principle of 'survival of the fittest'. We associate our perception of fitness with good education, good jobs, physical beauty and politesse, and hence we assume that the 'first', as in your case, is someone with good grades, who will hence get a good job (since we perceive someone with a good educational record as fit) and will be able to carry on the line finely.
I do not disagree with you: this is not how we should approach our personalities. We are human beings, and if we believe we have a higher intelligence quota than any living organism known to us, we must work beyond our animal instinct. Especially in the subcontinental society, a child who cannot excel as a doctor/engineer is 'inferior' for no real reason. We have to understand that everyone is different in their own way and has his/her capabilities which can be artistic, diplomatic or materialistic--and as a society, we should allow everyone to explore that. But simply refuting the idea that an education system must not let us conform is futile, because as animals we conform. As humans we can learn to reform.
