When President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law in December, he gushed about Antonio Martin, the eighth-grader who had introduced him. “He’s taking advanced classes to get a head start on high school credits. He plays the violin. He plays sports. He volunteers. He owns one share of stock in Tesla. So he’s clearly going places. I’d invest in him if I could,” the President told the press corps.

These days “investable” is high praise for a 13-year-old, and Antonio was in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building as a poster child for the latest round of federal education reform. But there’s a central contradiction in American education rhetoric between the universalism and the outstanding example: How can every student be exceptional?

The name of George W. Bush’s 2001 No Child Left Behind Act was roundly panned in liberal circles as another egregious example of the administration’s doublespeak — John Kerry called it “one of those Orwellian names you pull out of the sky.” The law’s plan was to raise every student to adequate performance in testable subjects and create a floor for American education. It didn’t work out that way (unsurprisingly), but the law’s framing stuck. After all, no politician wants to run on leaving some children behind to ignorance and menial employment.

As a name, “Every Student Succeeds” ups the ante on “No Child Left Behind.” Adequacy is by definition a low standard, and being merely satisfactory doesn’t necessarily lead to better life outcomes than inadequacy. If public schools are preparing some students to succeed (and they had better be), then the schools must set up all students to succeed, or at least provide them the opportunity. “We want to make sure that through this piece of legislation, with our hard work, with our focus, with our discipline, with our passion, with our commitment, that every kid is given the same opportunities that Antonio is getting,” Obama said.

The President says he’s talking about opportunities, but he’s also talking about outcomes. It’s one thing to want all kids to have access to advanced classes, music instruction, sports teams and volunteer work. It’s another to expect them to take advantage of all of them at the same time. President Obama described Antonio as “doing his part” with his full load of curricular and extracurricular activities, but every student can’t be prepared for college: There just aren’t enough seats. Because admission is limited and competitive, only the top two-thirds or so can be, by definition, prepared for higher education. No matter how hard they work, how brilliant they are, the lowest-scoring cohort will be labeled unprepared and accused of not “doing their part.”