A 17-year old high school student from Wichita East High School in Kansas discovered an unforeseen yet relevant error on the state exam.

Geoffrey Stanford saw the error while reading an essay question pertaining to the greenhouse gases. The term used was the word “omission” instead of “emission.” He pointed out the error to the teacher, thus prompting action.

In an interview, Stanford said that the question was probably talking about not leaving the carbon dioxide because it did not make sense.

The Kansas Department of Education immediately sent an email containing the corrected essay question throughout the state. This incident caused an embarrassment to the department since more than thirty state teachers have screened the test questions more than a year ago and the test has been distributed to fifty high schools last spring. A department spokesperson said that no one had reported the error before Stanford.

Stanford gained national attention on the issue, gaining appearances to TV shows. He said he never expected to get this kind of attention.

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