The NYT

writes about something profound: school science fairs. This is the time of year when schools, public and private, get into high gear on "big events," and few are bigger than the annual science fairs. The thrust of this article is more on high school science fairs, and many of the projects are stunning. Presumably by this time the science projects are of the student's own work.

That's one thing. Science fairs abound on the elementary school level, but teachers know that for the most part parents do the lion's share of the work. That shouldn't upset teachers too much because anything that would bring students and parents together should be encouraged. Anything that gets parents involved in their children's lives is not a negative.

At the private school where I worked, its science fair was not of the traditional sort but rather it was an invention fair. Believe me, the projects the students came up with (and parents were required to help the students) were remarkable, often hilarious. The last year I worked there, I videotaped the fair as well as having taken pictures of the projects.