By Ansarul Karim Jamee
Originally published: October 8, 2024 | Substantially revised: October 15, 2026
Ansarul Karim Jamee holds master’s degrees in Environmental Science and Management, History, and Business Administration. For nearly three decades, he has worked across diverse industries, advancing sustainability, well-being, and systems awareness.
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What the Article Is About
A good grade gives Selene something to celebrate. Then his classmates ask him to lead their next presentation, and he begins to feel the pressure to prove himself again.
During a walk with his father, he considers what worries him: preparing well, meeting expectations, and keeping others’ favorable opinion. Research on praise enters their conversation, but it does not settle the question of what caused his uneasiness.
This short story follows Selene toward one small decision: sharing a question before he knows the answer. It ends before the presentation, leaving its outcome open.
A Result Worth Celebrating
Selene left his economics assignment on the kitchen table with the grade facing up.
His father soon noticed.
“Shall I read it, or have you marked the important part?”
“You may admire that part first.”
His father laughed, then pulled out a chair. Selene put the kettle on. For a while, he enjoyed answering questions about the assignment: where he had found the data, which explanation he had abandoned, and how he had finally made sense of the figures.
Then his phone lit up.
A classmate had written in their group chat: “You’re leading the next presentation. We’re expecting another good one.”
Selene smiled, then typed, “Let’s see.”
Later that afternoon, he joined his father for a walk through the pines. He had already checked the presentation instructions twice.
“We can choose our own topic,” he said.
“Anything in particular interests you?”
“There’s a question about wages I’d like to understand. But I might use something close to this assignment. I know the material.”
“How long do you have?”
“Two weeks.”
They walked around a patch of mud. His father waited until they were side by side again.
“Would you have chosen the familiar topic before you got this grade?”
Selene looked at him.
“Probably not.”
“What changed?”
“Now they expect me to know what I’m doing. I feel the pressure to prove myself again.”
“You knew enough to do this assignment well.”
“Yes, but I’ll have to stand in front of them next time.”
His father slowed his pace.
Selene pushed his phone deeper into his pocket.
“I thought a good result would make the next thing easier.”
What Must Happen Again?
“What would make the presentation go badly?” his father asked.
“I could misunderstand something. Someone could ask a question I can’t answer.”
“And then?”
“Then I’d have to say I don’t know.”
His father waited.
“They’ve just asked me to lead,” Selene added. “It would be embarrassing.”
A few steps ahead, a low branch crossed the path. His father ducked beneath it.
“Are you worried about giving them a poor explanation, or about what they might think of you?”
“Both. It’s a group grade. They’d have a reason to be annoyed if I hadn’t prepared.”
“Yes, they would.”
“Besides, the grades count toward my scholarship.”
“I’m not suggesting they don’t matter.”
“Then choosing something I know seems sensible.”
“It may be. What made you hesitate?”
Selene looked down at the path.
“I wanted to understand the wages question. Then I started imagining myself getting stuck in front of everyone.”
“Before you’d even looked into it?”
“Before I’d opened a book.”
His father nodded.
“I’ve felt that, too. I gave the same lecture three years running after a class praised it.”
“Was it a good lecture?”
“Parts of it. By the third year, one example needed replacing. I kept it because it always got a laugh.”
“Did anyone complain?”
“A student asked whether I had a more recent example.”
Selene smiled. “An unreasonable request.”
“Deeply.”
They walked a little farther.
“So, were you embarrassed?”
“Enough to give him a longer answer than the question needed.”
Selene took his phone out, then put it back without checking it.
“I liked them thinking I was good at this,” he said. “Now I’m choosing a topic partly to keep them thinking it.”
The Part Praise May Play
“Do you remember calling me the economist of the family?” Selene asked.
“After you explained why the grocery bill had gone up?”
“I’d read half an article.”
“You sounded quite certain, though.”
“I was hoping nobody would ask about the other half.”
His father laughed.
“I enjoyed saying it,” he admitted. “Perhaps I should have asked what you’d learned.”
“I enjoyed hearing it. So you don’t have to take it back.”
They stepped aside for a runner. When the path was clear, his father returned to the question.
“There’s a study by Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck that comes to mind. They gave fifth graders tasks and praised them in different ways. Children praised for intelligence became more concerned with showing their ability than those praised for effort. After a setback, they also persisted less.”
“So calling me clever made me feel this pressure to prove myself?”
“We can’t tell from those experiments. And you’re not a fifth grader.”
“Most days.”
“But they give me a reason to think about what my praise draws attention to.”
Selene considered this.
“The message today didn’t call me clever. Instead, they asked me to lead.”
“True. They may simply trust you to prepare.”
“I could ask them what they want me to do.”
“Have you?”
“No. I’ve been busy imagining the questions they’ll ask afterward.”
His father glanced at him.
“Any good ones?”
“One, actually. Why wages differ between industries.”
“The question you wanted to investigate?”
Selene nodded.
Research reference: Mueller and Dweck (1998). The study concerned fifth graders; its application to Selene’s situation is part of the fictional conversation.
A Next Task with Room to Learn
“Wages across every industry?” his father asked.
Selene laughed. “Perhaps I’ll need more than two weeks.”
“What could you manage?”
“Two industries. In one country. I’d need to check what data we can find.”
“And what would you try to explain?”
“The difference. Though I suppose finding a difference and explaining it are two separate jobs.”
His father nodded. “Which one can your group reasonably do?”
“I’ll ask them. We could start by comparing the figures and identifying what we’d need to investigate.”
They had reached the turn toward home. Selene stopped beside the signpost.
“I still feel the pressure to prove myself,” Selene said. “What if I misunderstand something?”
“What would you do if someone else in the group misunderstood it?”
“Ask them to show me how they got there.”
“Would you ask yourself the same thing?”
“Eventually. First, I’d probably call myself an idiot.”
“I sometimes skip straight to rearranging my desk.”
“That sounds more productive.”
“The desk thinks so.”
Selene smiled, then looked back along the path.
“I don’t want to let myself off too easily.”
“You’d still have to check the explanation.”
“And fix it.”
“Yes.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
“I could send the group the question before I’ve worked out an answer,” Selene said.
“So, what would you ask them?”
“Whether it’s manageable. Whether someone wants to look at the data with me.”
He took out his phone and opened the group chat. Above his earlier reply, he could still see the message asking him to lead.
He began typing beneath it.
Selene read the message once more. He had written, “I’m not sure yet what would explain the difference.” He left that sentence in and pressed send. Then he slipped the phone into his pocket and caught up with his father.
Author’s Reflection
I wanted to explore the pressure to prove yourself again after a good result, when the next attempt begins to feel heavier.
Selene’s message felt to me like a small stone dropped into a still pond. A ripple begins; how far it travels remains unknown.
I chose to stop when he shared his unfinished thought. We do not know how the presentation will go. For this story, it was enough that he left “I’m not sure yet” in the message and pressed send.
—Jamee
Frequently Asked Questions
A good result can become a standard someone feels obliged to maintain. In Selene’s case, his classmates’ expectations leave him worrying about how they will see him if he struggles next time. This is one possible response to success, not an explanation that applies to everyone.
Selene shares a question before he has an answer. He leaves his uncertainty visible to the classmates whose opinion matters to him. The story does not tell us that his pressure disappears; it shows him taking one step while that uncertainty remains.
Articles You May Like
These stories continue our inquiry into learning, the wish to appear capable, and what intellectual growth might serve.
- Growth Mindset: A Question in the Margin
A comment on an unfinished essay leaves Selene questioning his ability. His conversation with his father explores feedback, the fear of falling short, and returning to the work. - Intellectual Growth and Vocation: Before the Mind Can Grow, It Must Answer a Call
Selene grows weary of the demand to keep improving. A conversation with his father asks what learning is for, whom knowledge might serve, and how discipline can remain attentive to others.
Principal Sources
The following sources inform this story’s exploration of learning, proving ability, praise, and responses to personal mistakes.
- Dweck, C. S. (2017). Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential (Rev. ed.). Robinson.
Chapter consulted: “Inside the Mindsets,” particularly its discussions of learning versus proving ability, being special, failure, and effort.
Publisher’s page - Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130(3), 392–414.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.392 - Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), 33–52.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.1.33 - Breines, J. G., & Chen, S. (2012). Self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(9), 1133–1143.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212445599
Dweck (2017) and Crocker and Park (2004) provide conceptual background for the story’s exploration of the pressure to prove yourself. Mueller and Dweck (1998), discussed in the dialogue, studied fifth graders; their findings do not establish what caused Selene’s concerns. Breines and Chen (2012) inform the conversation about responding to mistakes without harsh self-judgment.
Selene and his father are fictional. Their conversation explores possibilities beyond the situations directly tested in these studies. The story ends with a choice to investigate a question, without promising what that choice will achieve.
This article is also archived for open access at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23404611