About our new report, a concerned reader writes:

I couldn’t help noticing that the cover of your report on the progress of high achieving students shows a student conducting a science experiment WITHOUT wearing safety glasses. This would be considered unacceptable by any responsible science teacher, and I was surprised to see it on your cover. Your report is otherwise excellent, but as a science teacher and scientist, my safety radar is always on.

It would be a fair point if the pupil in question were not a high-achieving student, which he most certainly is. High-achieving students are not those who slosh acidic amalgams, who pour with reckless motions, who generally irritate when they titrate. Those actions are the province of the low-achiever. Thankfully, as we show in our new report, students at the bottom of their science classes (those constantly huddled around the eyewash fountain) are making significant progress. One day, they, too, may shed their safety glasses.

Update: An acquaintance, who is employed at the National Institutes of Health, writes that perhaps our high-achiever is, in fact, merely “calibrating his glassware with deionized water.” Or maybe he’s mixing up a fresh batch of Tropical Punch Kool-Aid? Or brewing his own Belgian-style ale? The goggles-not-required possibilities really are endless.