Sir

Your News Feature “Hothouse High” (Nature 435, 874–875; 2005) quotes current students of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology as wishing they had more opportunities to take music and other non-science courses.

As an alumna from the class of 1993, and a musician, I am dismayed, because this was not the case at all while I attended Jefferson. If anything, there was a strong multidisciplinary approach to teaching, which I believe actually helped those of us who went on to pursue a science career. I disagree with Chris Colin's statement that “tunnel vision at Jefferson hindered thinking about other interests and career choices” and I suggest that the only tunnel vision at Jefferson in danger of affecting students might be their own.

I was saddened by the declaration that two-thirds of the seniors at Jefferson now say they wouldn't choose it again. Perhaps the wrong students are attending Jefferson for the wrong reasons? There is pressure, especially from parents worried about college admissions, for their children to attend Jefferson regardless of their interest in science. Not to mention that Jefferson is a public school, free to attend and free from the violence endemic to most public schools in the greater Washington DC area.