Why does it matter how many students of different ethnic or racial groups apply or are accepted to Fairfax County’s world-famous math and science magnet school?

The problem isn’t so much what happens at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. In a county of more than a million people, and more than 165,000 public school students, the population at TJ is a drop in the bucket.

What matters is how the county is nurturing passion and talent for math, science and other subjects in all 137 elementary schools and then in its 26 middle schools.

In 2004, a Blue Ribbon Commission addressed concerns about under-represented minority groups at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The under represented groups are African-American and Latino students, who do not apply for admission in numbers proportional to their enrollment in the school system.

That commission recommended that admissions look at students more holistically and depend less on strict cutoffs of grade point averages and test scores.

We don’t really know how that "holistic approach" has worked in the admissions trenches. The initial pool of applicants to be considered has about doubled, but the number African-American and Latino applicants has, if anything, decreased.

The 2004 commission found black students accounted for 1.1 percent of TJ's students and Hispanics making up 2.4 percent. And though one out of five students in Fairfax County is poor enough to qualify for free and reduced-price meals, only one out of every 100 students at TJ is poor by the same standards.

The student population granted admission for fall 2007 was about 1.86 percent African-American (nine students) and 2.06 percent Hispanic (10 students).

It’s time for schools to consider each individual student. Every first grade teacher in every elementary school should be asked to identify a half-dozen to a dozen students who have interest in math and science. All students should be exposed to hands-on science, field work in the natural world and experiments that will light up the interests of young minds.

Of course we know that the current curriculum is supposed to accomplish this, and that high stakes testing in elementary school has also put more focus on certain areas. But we wonder whether the focus on testing has forced more of an academic, paper and pencil approach, rather than investing in the excitement of discovery.

But by having a list starting in first grade and moving forward through elementary school of students with passion for science, the schools will have data and resources to nurture these students. It’s a powerful motivator for a teacher to tell a student as young as six or seven or eight that he or she has a special talent or love for science, or math, and that the student might want to consider being a scientist when he or she grows up.

Focusing on individual children in elementary schools that have the highest percentage of poor children is also essential.

This sort of approach will result in more students, of all races and economic background, excelling in math and science across the board, not just at TJ.

But in addition, half the slots at TJ should be assigned by middle school, on a percentage basis, so that students from different geographic locations in the county have guaranteed access to the school. And encouraging students who qualify for free-and-reduced meals, students who are from poor families, is also critical.

Real passion for science, the kind of passion that results in young men and women choosing careers in science, is not measured in test scores and grades. It’s measured in enthusiasm and attention. If as school board members say, they want to see TJ add to the number of people who go on to be leaders in math and science, they’ll have to find a way to foster and measure passion and interest.

A recent proposal to have a 3.0 grade point cutoff for applicants is not a step in that direction.