It is becoming clear that the difficulties which people experience in most areas of life are closely connected with the ways in which they see themselves and the world in which they live. There is considerable evidence that student failures in the basic school subjects, as well as misdirected motivation and lack of commitment (characteristic of the underachiever, the dropout, the culturally disadvantaged, and the failure), are, in large measure, the consequence of faulty perceptions of the self and the world. The self is defined here as all the beliefs, attitudes, and opinions which an individual holds about himself. This paper reviews literature (1) relating the self to academic achievement, (2) the self-concepts of gifted students and underachievers, and (3) the task of the teacher in building positive and accurate self concepts. (BP)