> If I were running a science fair, a rock-solid requirement for me to judge something as the winner would be a plausible argument that pretty much any student could replicate the experiment with school-level resources, if they took the time.
I thought the point of this article was that Veronica was specifically told she couldn't do this experiment as you describe:
We also learned that this experiment was so potentially dangerous that Veronica
would have to carry it out under the supervision of a trained expert, who would
first have to submit a detailed risk assessment.
That she wanted to do it the simple way, but the school said, "No, you're not allowed to. We're too afraid"
I am being critical of that. The more I think through this, the stronger I come to the conclusion that this whole thing is of negative value, actively subverting the only goals that matter, and it might as well be shut down. This whole thing is a useless farce.
As long as we're discussing privilege, the correct use of privilege would be to tell the school to just go to hell, run the experiment anyhow with the probably $10 of equipment you need, and submit something to the actual science fair as perfunctory as possible that will let you pass (leaning on your "privilege" to pass). And skip the visits to the microbiologists, because that proves the wrong point. You should be doing this on your own.
I thought the point of this article was that Veronica was specifically told she couldn't do this experiment as you describe:
That she wanted to do it the simple way, but the school said, "No, you're not allowed to. We're too afraid"I feel like I'm confusing something somewhere.