The county fair does not have the goal of convincing everybody that they can do music, so the metaphor fails.
Science fairs have the goal of showing everybody they can do science. This is the only sensible goal, because as a mechanism for actually doing science 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 extra super hard convinces people you need "real scientists" and lab coats and training and specialized equipment, it is of negative value and the optimal thing to do is just shut it down.
This science fair should be shut down. It is doing harm and no good.
Science fairs have the goal of showing everybody they can do science. This is the only sensible goal, because as a mechanism for actually doing science 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 extra super hard convinces people you need "real scientists" and lab coats and training and specialized equipment, it is of negative value and the optimal thing to do is just shut it down.
This science fair should be shut down. It is doing harm and no good.