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Dave Barry Science Fair Summary

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The essay “Science: It’s Just not Fair”, by Dave Barry, some truths about science fairs that many students have to participate in are brought out. Barry starts the essay with the beginning of the science fair project process, which is usually put off until the last minute. He sarcastically and ironically describes the process as a student who is rushing to do their project the night before the due date. Barry also includes and comments on the the ironic importance of the hypothesis and conclusion in the science fair process, showing how they usually very vague statements. He also gives examples of his wife’s and his own last-minute science fair projects that they threw together quickly before the due date. Barry ends his essay by one of the …show more content…

Barry writes about the last-minute process of the science fair project and the “importance” of the fair. In the beginning of the essay, he states that the science fair is there “for a good reason: Your teachers to hate you”. This introduces the idea that science fairs are pointless and show no real value as most students do not start their projects until the night before. Barry adds more humor as he mentions the required display boards that cause “many top scientist fail to win the Nobel Prize”. This use of sarcasm shows how unnecessary the rules and the fair are. Barry also gives a couple of examples to show that although the science fair is created with educational intentions, it usually does not turn out that way. For example, hypotheses are a large part of the scientific process, but usually end up being very vague facts and statements like: “‘There is a lot of gravity on the ground’”. The title of the essay, “Science: It’s Just not Fair”, also displays the writer’s use of wordplay, and it shows the pointlessness of the science fairs as they don’t teach much to students as they rush the

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