Nathan's Occasional Blog

Students’ BB gun project banned from science fair:

Two middle schoolers spent months working on a project that would show the world just how dangerous BB guns can be – only to have the school reject their demonstration on the grounds that BB guns are dangerous. The Amherst, Massachusetts school offered Nathan C. Woodard and Nathaniel A. Gorlin-Crenshaw a chance to demonstrate their project privately to the judges and receive a certificate of accomplishment. The boys – politely, I imagine – told them to cram it.

As a friend said to me regarding this story: “Wow – but I’d bet they’d let them do something with unstable chemicals.” Certainly an exception could have been made, and precautions taken? Oh, right…that would have required that someone at the school do work. My bad.

You have GOT to be kidding me!?! As the proud winner of a 3rd place trophy in the Connecticut state science fair when I was in junior high, I can officially vouch that MANY of the projects I saw were dangerous. Heck, some kid in the high school level made a laser! Killing a project that PROVES how dangerous a BB gun is because it’s dangerous is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a long time. I sure hope they didn’t mark their report with a red pen.