The county fair does not have the goal of convincing everybody that they can do music, so the metaphor fails.<p>Science fairs have the goal of showing everybody they can do science. This is the only sensible goal, because as a mechanism for <i>actually doing science</i> they are worthless. If they fail that goal, they are worthless. Once again, this is a place where people confuse the mechanisms for the goals, a problem our society is having a lot of problems with lately. If the science fair is run in a way that <i>extra super hard</i> convinces people you need &quot;real scientists&quot; and lab coats and training and specialized equipment, it is of <i>negative value</i> and the optimal thing to do is just <i>shut it down</i>.<p>This science fair should be shut down. It is doing harm and no good.