ABSTRACT
Learning from mistakes and doing a worthy, effortful, ethical job take a back-seat to the goal of being Number 1. Intense competition for the best grades and for entry into the best schools and careers has made anxiety common possibly most pointedly among gifted students. Fear of failure is rampant. In this atmosphere, although some students take mistakes or failures in stride and learn from them, others are devastated by them, becoming full of worry and self-reproach. There is no evidence that gifted individuals are more perfectionistic as a group than others, and there is certainly no evidence that perfectionism is an essential part of giftedness itself. Although perfectionism is pervasive in most perfectionistic people’s lives, some gifted students may seem perfectionistic only in school because that’s where they have the best chance for perfection. Feeling liked and accepted forms a secure emotional base for trying new things and risking failure.
