Words such as disordered, impaired, maladaptive, deficient, and deviant are frequently used to describe students. The author argues that equally logical descriptors of students include resourceful, resilient, clever, creative, and tenacious and that emphasis should be changed from adults remediating student deficiencies to educating students to recognize and use their own strengths. The current preoccupation with student intellectual deficiencies masks other important reasons why students fail in school. Evidence suggests that perceived deficiencies may actually be due to the misalignment of cognitive, social, emotional, and cultural needs with classroom requirements. If student intellectual strengths and weaknesses are defined in relation to task demands placed before them but the tasks themselves are not engaging or worthwhile, it is difficult to claim that children are intellectually deficient when they fail at the tasks. Schools are places where students should be recognized for their potential, and student performance requirements should be reconceptualized to reflect such recognition. 20 references