SCIENCE FAIR

Fifth Grade! Wow, I don't ever remembering having so many projects as a fifth grader... And THE SCIENCE FAIR!!!! What a joke... when we were young it was optional whether or not you participated.. NOW..MANDATORY? What crap if you ask me...
So, Jurnee brought home the papers, quite awhile ago, to notify Jason and I (as the parents) about the science fair.. It specifically states on these papers that parents CANNOT help there child with the science fair project... they can direct them a little bit, help physically with the experiment, but that is all.... no helping with the poster, no telling them what to write on there report, no doing any research for them at all! So I thought I would talk with her teacher about it. Again, it was re-iterated, that the student should do this project all by themselves. It is for learning and to help them understand how the scientific method works. So, sticking to the rules, Jason and I made Jurnee do the whole thing on her own. Biting our tongues the whole time! Answering the questions we could for her.... otherwise, I sent her to school to ask her teacher the questions. It was very stressful for her. She didnt quite understand the scientific process as much as she could have... quite how to put it with her experiment.. Anyways, very tramatic, stressful situation for everyone to absorb..

My point of this post is this... to let off my steam and then to let you all know how I am very ANNOYED with the parents that do not follow the rules. Jason and I went to the science fair at the 5th grade classrooms. We walked between two classrooms and realized it was very evident that there were some Parents that did there childs project from start to finish. (or at least that is what it looked like)... Obviously that there posters were done by an adult, obvious that there project was basically performed by the parent. A few of the kids we would ask questions and they would stare at us "blankly" and shrug there shoulders dumbfounded.. then Jurnee comes home to tell us that three of the students that were going to the "district" fair, and got "good" grades from the teacher were basically bragging that there parents did the whole thing with them. She was really upset with us for not helping her as much. I explained to her to not be discouraged, it was a good learning experience for her and she will know what to do "better" for next time. I let her know that those students were not judged fairly.. If the judges and teacher were to look at it very closely they would have known it was CHEATING against the instructions that were sent home by the fifth grade teachers.
Good Job JURNEE! You did the best you could do for the time you gave yourself. She had an excellent learning experience. ITs 5th grade for SHIT SAKE! Give me a break.