Myth 15: High-Ability Students Don’t Face Problems and Challenges

One rationale for failure to address the needs of high-ability students in schools is that high-ability students do not need special services because they do not face any special problems or challenges. A more extreme corollary of this attitude is the notion that high ability is so protective that students with high ability do not face problems or challenges that other students do, or that they will be successful in life no matter what they experience in school. This myth is closely related to the myth that high-ability students do not have unique social and/or emotional needs (see Myth 17). Peterson argues persuasively in Myth 17 that gifted students face many problems and challenges in the social/emotional realm. Here, the focus is on whether high-ability students face prob-lems and challenges in developing their talents. Myths