#IStandWithAhmed

[MSNative]

In fairness, the claim from the teacher was the student was sent to the office for shouting "Bless you!" across the room and causing a disruption in the classroom.

 

But yes, I think almost everyone (possibly everyone) posting in this thread find the policies enforced in some schools to be ridiculously draconian.

 

The air soft gun case is a bit more interesting as the claim from the school was that they did have jurisdiction as the school claims the boys were playing with the guns at a bus stop and shooting other students with the pellets. The suspension still seems severe but there is a bit more to this than they were simply playing with the guns at home.

And that is the point. So many policies and actions are draconian.

I agree that there is probably so much more to every story. The air soft case - I can believe they were shooting others but agree that that does not require a year long suspension. By the same token, Ahmed did not deserve to be arrested.

[MSNative]

You'd be amazed at how utterly disruptive it can be to have 30 kids yelling bless you when someone sneezes. The kids had been told just not to say it at all. She was making a point of saying it because the teacher banned it. She was being purposefully disruptive.

No story that I read said that 30 kids said bless you. I teach at a co-op and have had 15 kids say bless you when someone sneezes. Amazingly I am able to continue teaching without chaos erupting. Even back in the dark ages when I went to school, the biggest issue wasn't someoen saying bless you. We had kids smoking joints in the back of math class. I bet my teachers would have loved just having to deal with kids saying bless you.

[MSNative]

Why is this so hard to understand? All the people tossing red herrings into this thread look like a bunch of petulant children throwing a good ol' foot stompin' "It's not fair!!" tantrum over the fact that Ahmed got 15 minutes of fame.

 

Comparing suspension + ARREST to suspension is disingenuous. Apples and oranges.

 

It was really and truly not his fault, nor his intention to go to school one day and become famous via twitter by the end of the day. That is all thanks to the Irvine police who escalated a simple matter into a s**tstorm, unnecessarily.

She said bless you. He brought in something that under the current zero tolerance rules could have been a bomb. This is the same mindset that suspends people for bubble guns and key chains. That mindset all wrong. It's really truly not either of their faults. Saying that one is wrong is not saying that the other is ok. Can't we agree that both are wrong?

[ChocolateReignRemix]

She said bless you. He brought in something that under the current zero tolerance rules could have been a bomb. This is the same mindset that suspends people for bubble guns and key chains. That mindset all wrong. It's really truly not either of their faults. Saying that one is wrong is not saying that the other is ok. Can't we agree that both are wrong?

 

It depends.  If she shouted "Bless you!" to disrupt class, then a trip to the principal may be warranted.  A teacher attempting to prevent class disruptions is not the same as the ludicrous zero-tolerance polices in some schools.

[kitten18]

No story that I read said that 30 kids said bless you. I teach at a co-op and have had 15 kids say bless you when someone sneezes. Amazingly I am able to continue teaching without chaos erupting. Even back in the dark ages when I went to school, the biggest issue wasn't someoen saying bless you. We had kids smoking joints in the back of math class. I bet my teachers would have loved just having to deal with kids saying bless you.

Um, really? You're comparing 15 kids in a co-op to 30 kids in a school classroom?

 

 

She was sent to the office (not suspended) for disrupting class. They were warned not to disrupt class. And then she yelled across the room.

[fraidycat]

She said bless you. He brought in something that under the current zero tolerance rules could have been a bomb. This is the same mindset that suspends people for bubble guns and key chains. That mindset all wrong. It's really truly not either of their faults. Saying that one is wrong is not saying that the other is ok. Can't we agree that both are wrong?

Ok. Both are wrong. IF she was truly suspended...seems to be many conflicting accounts here. If Bless you is not the issue - disobeying a class rule/disruptive behavior is, then it is not wrong for her to be punished. But, she still was not arrested and interrogated by police.

 

They are not comparable.

 

One belongs in this thread, the other does not. Really.

[amsunshine]

She said bless you. He brought in something that under the current zero tolerance rules could have been a bomb. This is the same mindset that suspends people for bubble guns and key chains. That mindset all wrong. It's really truly not either of their faults. Saying that one is wrong is not saying that the other is ok. Can't we agree that both are wrong?

 

No, no, no.  It was not something that "could have been a bomb".  That's the silly part.  No one at the school thought it was a bomb.  The police did not think it was a bomb.  Everyone agrees that what Ahmed built was not something that could have been a bomb.  That is the point!

 

The police and the school authorities maintain they  thought Ahmed tried to build something that looked like a bomb or was a "hoax bomb".   However, he did nothing and said nothing to support that theory.  The more he kept insisting it was a clock, the more they thought it was a hoax bomb.  The situation could not have been more ridiculous.

 

Both situations you mention are wrong.  I agree.  However, if I was to weigh them against each other, I would find Ahmed's situation much more egregious given the far more extreme response on the part of the school and the police.

[Haiku]

He brought in something that under the current zero tolerance rules could have been a bomb.

Zero tolerance rules or not, it never "could have been a bomb" because it wasn't a bomb, and everyone knew it wasn't a bomb.

 

Zero tolerance has NOTHING to do with this situation.

[Butter]

No story that I read said that 30 kids said bless you. I teach at a co-op and have had 15 kids say bless you when someone sneezes. Amazingly I am able to continue teaching without chaos erupting. Even back in the dark ages when I went to school, the biggest issue wasn't someoen saying bless you. We had kids smoking joints in the back of math class. I bet my teachers would have loved just having to deal with kids saying bless you.

 

Not at that particular time, no.  The teacher banned saying bless you after someone sneezes because she had had experiences with the disruptiveness of a class of kids saying bless you.  My daughter saw it happen many times when she was in public school.  It drove her crazy.  I believe you when you say chaos does not erupt at co-op.  You need to believe that it does indeed cause chaos in the classroom sometimes.

 

Who cares if kids are smoking joints in the bathroom?  Does that mean we shouldn't worry about anything else going on in the classroom?  That makes no sense at all.  Multiple issues can be going and and multiple issues can be addressed.  Nowhere did anyone say all the teachers deal with is kids saying bless you.  It's just one thing they deal with.

 

The teacher chose to deal with that one issue by banning the saying of bless you.  I'm sure she dealt with other issues other ways as well.  What happened with this girl is she decided that banning bless you was an attack on Christianity (because only Christians say bless you...?) and so she waited until a classmate sneezed in that classroom, stood up, and yelled bless you.  She was being deliberately obnoxious and breaking the rule to make a point.  She was punished appropriately (removed from class for the period, possibly placed in in school suspension for the day).

[Susan Wise Bauer]

Stay on topic, don't attack each other, and the thread stays open.

 

 

[Murphy101]

You'd be amazed at how utterly disruptive it can be to have 30 kids yelling bless you when someone sneezes. The kids had been told just not to say it at all. She was making a point of saying it because the teacher banned it. She was being purposefully disruptive.

Good for her then. Kids disrupt. People disrupt. Anyone who can't handle it in a rational manner should go be a hermit. (Which I would totally understand and envy.) generations of children in classrooms have been saying bless you and their teachers have all managed to somehow still educate them.

 

This reminds me of that Roseanne episode where the teacher called her in bc her kid is barking in class. Annoying? For sure. Kids can be like that. Frequently.

[Murphy101]

Idk know if it was an attack on Christianity or not. I lean to thinking it wasn't simply because I mostly think it was just stupid.

[Murphy101]

You'd be amazed at how utterly disruptive it can be to have 30 kids yelling bless you when someone sneezes. The kids had been told just not to say it at all. She was making a point of saying it because the teacher banned it. She was being purposefully disruptive.

I find it difficult to believe her saying bless you was more disruptive than the teacher calling her out and disciplining her for it. That makes no sense.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

I find it difficult to believe her saying bless you was more disruptive than the teacher calling her out and disciplining her for it. That makes no sense.

 

If she stood up and shouted it to be disruptive, then yes, sending her to the principal seems reasonable.  We also don't know if there had been an ongoing issue of class disruptions.

 

 

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Well, Dawkins weighed in. Is he getting dementia, do you think ? He apparently sees a ruse where young Ahmed made sure he got himself arrested in order to ??? Not clear on that bit. 

 

Richard, Richard, Richard...

 

He went around the bend a while back.  And he really, really doesn't like Muslims.

[Joker]

I feel those trying to defend the "Bless You" girl getting in trouble are just as bad as those trying to defend Ahmed getting in trouble. Both are ridiculous. Kids shouldn't be getting suspended and in serious trouble for being kids (pop tarts/pretend weapos, blessings, trying to make their own clocks).

[ChocolateReignRemix]

I feel those trying to defend the "Bless You" girl getting in trouble are just as bad as those trying to defend Ahmed getting in trouble. Both are ridiculous. Kids shouldn't be getting suspended and in serious trouble for being kids (pop tarts/pretend weapos, blessings, trying to make their own clocks).

 

She didn't get in serious trouble.

It is possible the teacher is out of line, but it is also possible she was handling a classroom disruption as needed.  Trying to to put sending a disruptive (according to the teacher) student to the office is not the same as multi-day suspensions for how a kid chews his Pop-tart or calling the police over a clock.

 

Kids will be kids, but when they cause problems in class they can (and should) get reasonable consequences.  I think saying a teacher has to put up with any and all results of "kids being kids" in the classroom is a bit unrealistic.

 

My issue is dragging anything like that into the same realm as a student getting lead away in handcuffs causes us to miss the forest due to the trees.

 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't understand how saying "bless you" is a religious issue at all.  (Assuming that some of the people are using this as a way of saying that Christians are being targeted as well.  

[Murphy101]

Oh sure. I agree this bless you or cursive writing nonsense is not on par with the clock nonsense, which was most certainly exponential degrees worse.

 

It's seems to point to a systemic problem though, maybe, yes?

 

If a teacher is not able to handle kids saying bless you in class or writing their name in cursive, then of course they are going to call the police if a kid brings a clock to school. Now it makes sense. Well not really actually.

 

No one is saying kids should be allowed to act like hooligans in the classroom. Is there no middle ground for sanity to reign over?

 

What I am saying is that there is a major disconnect with and from students going on and it's causing some bat guano crazy stuff.

[*Lulu*]

She didn't get in serious trouble.

It is possible the teacher is out of line, but it is also possible she was handling a classroom disruption as needed. Trying to to put sending a disruptive (according to the teacher) student to the office is not the same as multi-day suspensions for how a kid chews his Pop-tart or calling the police over a clock.

 

Kids will be kids, but when they cause problems in class they can (and should) get reasonable consequences. I think saying a teacher has to put up with any and all results of "kids being kids" in the classroom is a bit unrealistic.

 

My issue is dragging anything like that into the same realm as a student getting lead away in handcuffs causes us to miss the forest due to the trees.

 

Exactly.

 

I have seen, as a classroom observer and student teacher, classes disrupted by all sorts of very banal acts being done obnoxiously. My fave two:

 

the kid who was blowing his nose, loudly. Every time the teacher said "British" during a history lesson about The American Revolution.

 

the kid who kept raising her hand to ask painfully obvious questions in music class. (8th grader, no developmental or behavioral disabilities- just decided to be funny) After the teacher explained, nicely, three times why a quarter note only got one beat in a 4/4 measure, the act got old.

 

But a child being sent to the office, even if she was wrongly targeted by a nasty teacher, is not even remotely the same as a child being handcuffed and taken into custody. Even if the child was purposely being obnoxious, which I have seen no evidence of, it is not an even comparison.

[Murphy101]

He went around the bend a while back. And he really, really doesn't like Muslims.

At least he is consistent, because he really, really doesn't like Christians or any other religion either.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Oh sure. I agree this bless you or cursive writing nonsense is not on par with the clock nonsense, which was most certainly exponential degrees worse.

 

It's seems to point to a systemic problem though, maybe, yes?

 

If a teacher is not able to handle kids saying bless you in class or writing their name in cursive, then of course they are going to call the police if a kid brings a clock to school. Now it makes sense. Well not really actually.

 

No one is saying kids should be allowed to act like hooligans in the classroom.

 

What I am saying is that there a major disconnect with and from students going on and it's causing some bat guano crazy stuff.

 

I don't agree, as I don't see sending a disruptive student out of the class as slippery slope to calling the police over a clock.  In fact we managed to have schools where students have been disciplined for disruptive behavior for years and years before we ever started concocting zero tolerance policies.

 

In addition, what happened in Ahmed's case goes beyond what the school did and includes how the police handled the matter, which was even worse than what the school did imo.

[SKL]

In contrast ...

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/cancer-stricken-children-and-their-parents-ejected-from-park-near-white-house/2015/09/20/416665a4-5fd5-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html

 

 

[ChocolateReignRemix]

In contrast ...

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/cancer-stricken-children-and-their-parents-ejected-from-park-near-white-house/2015/09/20/416665a4-5fd5-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html

 

I don't see the contrast.  Care to explain?

[Murphy101]

I don't agree, as I don't see sending a disruptive student out of the class as slippery slope to calling the police over a clock. In fact we managed to have schools where students have been disciplined for disruptive behavior for years and years before we ever started concocting zero tolerance policies.

 

In addition, what happened in Ahmed's case goes beyond what the school did and includes how the police handled the matter, which was even worse than what the school did imo.

I don't think you are understanding me and I'm whooped tired, so maybe that's my fault.

 

I did say I completely agree Ahmed's situation is exponentially worse, and thus not on par.

 

And I agree disruptive behavior was often handled just fine prior to ZT policies.

 

I'm obviously not making myself clear and that is more likely another topic, so good night, everyone. :)

[ChocolateReignRemix]

I don't think you are understanding me and I'm whooped tired, so maybe that's my fault.

 

I did say I completely agree Ahmed's situation is exponentially worse, and thus not on par.

 

And I agree disruptive behavior was often handled just fine prior to ZT policies.

 

I'm obviously not making myself clear and that is more likely another topic, so good night, everyone. :)

 

I get what you are saying, I just don't agree that there is a direct line from reasonable (or even moderately unreasonable) classroom management to calling the police over a clock.  I also disagree with your premise that a teacher opting to send a student to the principal for being a disruption is somehow failing at managing their classroom.

[idnib]

In contrast ...

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/cancer-stricken-children-and-their-parents-ejected-from-park-near-white-house/2015/09/20/416665a4-5fd5-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html

 

What a sad story.  :(

 

Are you saying that sometimes the White House invites children and other times kids are not treated as well, even if they're sick?

 

I find it unhelpful to say that the President's security detail needs to work around all local public park permits for vigils, birthday parties, company picnics, etc wherever he goes. It's an unfortunate circumstance but I'm certain thousands of citizen's plans have been changed over the Commander-in-Chief's schedule.

 

This one is more unfortunate than most. 

[Sneezyone]

In contrast ...

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/cancer-stricken-children-and-their-parents-ejected-from-park-near-white-house/2015/09/20/416665a4-5fd5-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html

Totally unrelated political swipes close the thread in 3...2...1...

[MSNative]

She didn't get in serious trouble.

It is possible the teacher is out of line, but it is also possible she was handling a classroom disruption as needed. Trying to to put sending a disruptive (according to the teacher) student to the office is not the same as multi-day suspensions for how a kid chews his Pop-tart or calling the police over a clock.

 

Kids will be kids, but when they cause problems in class they can (and should) get reasonable consequences. I think saying a teacher has to put up with any and all results of "kids being kids" in the classroom is a bit unrealistic.

 

My issue is dragging anything like that into the same realm as a student getting lead away in handcuffs causes us to miss the forest due to the trees.

 

Then how about the case of the kid who got arrested for writing a story about using a gun to kill a dinosaur? https://reason.com/blog/2014/08/20/teen-arrested-suspended-for-shooting-a-d

I think that one is a better example. I stand with Ahmed and all the students ane teachers and parents who have to deal with this zero tolerence paranoia.

[Rivka]

Well, Dawkins weighed in. Is he getting dementia, do you think ? He apparently sees a ruse where young Ahmed made sure he got himself arrested in order to ??? Not clear on that bit. 

 

Richard, Richard, Richard...

 

Sigh.

 

I don't believe there's ever been a social issue that went better because Dawkins got involved.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Then how about the case of the kid who got arrested for writing a story about using a gun to kill a dinosaur? https://reason.com/blog/2014/08/20/teen-arrested-suspended-for-shooting-a-d

I think that one is a better example. I stand with Ahmed and all the students ane teachers and parents who have to deal with this zero tolerence paranoia.

Definitely a better example of the zero tolerance.

 

However we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that what happened to Ahmed went well beyond a zero tolerance policy.

[MSNative]

Definitely a better example of the zero tolerance.

 

However we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that what happened to Ahmed went well beyond a zero tolerance policy.

Or that what happened to Alex (kid in the dinosaur example) did too.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Can someone please provide a link to a source indicating that the teacher stashed the clock in her desk and that action was not taken until a later time?

 

I'm in an outside discussion about this and can't find anything more specific by googling.

 

THANK YOU!!!

[ktgrok]

I don't have anything against him. Why does it have to be for or against? Isn't that the "tribalism" that another poster was taking about? I've acknowledged in every post that him getting arrested was wrong. I'd be livid if it was my own kid. Is any other discussion or speculation about the incident out of bounds? Is it considered being against him to talk about the merits of bringing clock innards to school in a generic black case and then setting it to go off during an unrelated class? I'd is against him to have any discussion at all, then I'll go back to my previous response: Shouldn't have happened, did happen, was stupid, public school admins can't think for themselves, would be livid if it was my kid.

 

There are clock innards all over the school, if we assume there are clocks in the school. As for the case, it was not a generic black case. It was a pencil holder with a cute picture of a tiger on the front. Not exactly fear inspiring not the choice one would make if trying to make people think it is a bomb. 

[ktgrok]

 

I was not equating Ahmed's actions with the court nor with the murders -- read my post, OK?  I was stating that his actions were imprudent, in a normal-for-a-14-year-old kind of way-- in the first place, but moreso in the history and context of his community.  

 

And that context will NEVER change if people just kowtow to the racists. 

[ktgrok]

There's an ocean of obnoxious, disruptive, inappropriate, unwise behavior and/or actions that "doesn't break the law or hurt anyone."  I'll get my future grandkids right on that when they come, k?

 

This kid bringing his contraption to school was definitely the last three, and if I were the teacher, and the thing started ringing in the middle of the class, I might consider it #1, too. 

 

A CLOCK was disruptive, inappropriate, and unwise? A clock???? I can give you the disruptive because it went off in class, I'm asusming that was an accident. Probably because I've had alarms go off at inopportune moments plenty of times. But inappropriate and unwise? Clocks? 

[Word Nerd]

I think all of the examples show rampant "zero tolerance" ridiculousness. (Is that a word?). I do think the fact that the 14 year old boy was Muslim did cause the media frenzy. Why not a similar frenzy for the girl who was suspended because she said "bless you." I think it is fair to say that the media is making a big deal out of this because it fits with the narrative they want to promote. That doesn't mean that what happened to him was right or that what happened to her was right. Can we agree that it's not ok regardless of which child is the recipient of the nonsense?

 

The story went viral because of Twitter and other social media, and the "media frenzy" is not nearly as intentional as you seem to be assuming.

 

http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/ahmed_mohamed_clock_dallas_morning_news.php

[Word Nerd]

Zero tolerance rules or not, it never "could have been a bomb" because it wasn't a bomb, and everyone knew it wasn't a bomb.

 

Zero tolerance has NOTHING to do with this situation.

 

I disagree. 

[ktgrok]

. But, that's also one of the reasons my kids are not in public school; I would not assume it would be ok to cart a box of circuits that apparently make noise from class to class.

 

You know you just described watches, ipods, and cell phones, right? All of which are allowed in school. 

[zoobie]

You know you just described watches, ipods, and cell phones, right? All of which are allowed in school.

And computers. Whole rooms full of bomb-y circuit boards and wiring!

[zoobie]

I don't agree, as I don't see sending a disruptive student out of the class as slippery slope to calling the police over a clock. In fact we managed to have schools where students have been disciplined for disruptive behavior for years and years before we ever started concocting zero tolerance policies.

 

In addition, what happened in Ahmed's case goes beyond what the school did and includes how the police handled the matter, which was even worse than what the school did imo.

The "bless you" chorus and fake sneezing is a pretty common classroom disruption. It happened in at least two of mine, one an honors class in high school. There's a reasonable explanation for a child being sent to the office for yelling something in class even as innocuous-seeming as "bless you," whereas there's no reasonable explanation for what happened with Ahmed.

[8circles]

I fervently hope and pray that one of our very own gets her invitation to the White House Correspondents dinner soon. She is so darn funny... vague yet in your face at the same time, its really astounding. Her talent abounds.

 

It really is a shame that the President hasn't invited her yet. I mean, Ahmed got an invite, why is that? It's so unfair.

[SKL]

You know you just described watches, ipods, and cell phones, right? All of which are allowed in school. 

 

Not in our school.

 

Watches, yes, worn on the wrist, but even they aren't allowed to make noise in class.

[8circles]

Not in our school.

 

Watches, yes, worn on the wrist, but even they aren't allowed to make noise in class.

How about...... Clocks? Hanging on the wall in plain view of everyone in class even.

[SKL]

How about...... Clocks? Hanging on the wall in plain view of everyone in class even.

 

I think we're talking about schools restricting students from bringing in unnecessary stuff that can distract the class.  This is a very normal expectation.  I would 100% expect a reprimand for it, whether it's a homemade clock or something more conventional.  What I would not expect is handcuffs.

[QueenCat]

I watched the video on this story: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/09/16/14-year-old-muslim-student-detained-interrogated-on-charges-of-making-hoax-bomb-he-says-theres-much-more-to-the-story/He says that he closed the schoolbox with a wire because he knew a lock would look suspicious. To me that tells me that he knew that this could be seen as bad. 

 

I went to school in southwest Washington state. 

 

I read the article........ that is not one of his direct quotes (they included a few but chose not to for this particular bit of info, when wording would be particularly relevant) ... I've seen the Blaze skew facts horribly in the past so I'd really like to know what the boy actually said, rather than their interpretation of what he said. The Blaze is the only place I've seen this particular accusation.

[QueenCat]

Loan dissenting opinion apparently.  A. I was imagining a homemade clock-like thing when I first read the story. The thing is not clock-like....hmmm ticking thing in a backpack with wires dangling off of it reminds me of....what? B.  The teacher did not want to be the one who ignored something peculiar in a backpack and had his school blow up.  She is responsible for those children and erred on the side of caution. C. Now we instantly have a poster child for racial profiling and in one fell swoop everyone is desensitized to reacting to odd situations and circumstances. Someone may very well bring a bomb to school and no one will be willing to face the wrath of the collective media and social media to report it.  D. The teacher should not be expected to know all the forms contemporary home-made bombs can or cannot take.  

 

This teacher lives in a post 9-11, post Columbine, post-Sandy Hook world. Giver her a break.

 

If the teacher thought it was a bomb, WHY ON EARTH DID SHE WAIT HOURS to report it? If it'd been a bomb, she kept the kids at risk during the hours she waited to report it!

[EmseB]

Dude, I can't compete with the appeals to emotion and ad hominem. "Ripping" on a 14yo? Really? My posts were "ripping" on him? Discussing the objective fact of whether or not he actually did what everyone has put him on a pedestal for is ripping on him? And the sentiment that it doesn't actually matter if he did what he claims he did? I think I'm in bizarro land. Maybe it's a participation trophy culture thing?

 

A kid should not get arrested for putting a clock in a box, but I don't know if it is exactly worthy of being invited to the white house, either. Especially since, as all of you are stating about your own kids, young people everywhere are playing with circuits, arduinos, clock components and actually making their own stuff.

 

This is actually sort of hilarious. The first part of the thread was everyone joking about how dumb it was to not be able to see it was just a clock. Now it is a horrible insult (racist, even!) to say, oh wow it is just a clock and he didn't even build it himself. How bizarre that they arrested him for that. Why would his engineering teacher not just have kept it in the engineering classroom?

 

Is just a clock, and you're dumb if you can't see that, but you're also a horrible person if you talk about it as anything less than amazing for a kid to put a clock in a box. Right.

[EmseB]

You know you just described watches, ipods, and cell phones, right? All of which are allowed in school.

I don't know any school where those things are allowed to be out and/or making noise during class to the point that the teacher would notice them. When I was in school, if any gadget made noise during class you'd get a warning and/or have the item confiscated. Are kids in high schools really allowed to use their phones and ipods in class these days? Or if it starts ringing and disrupts class that's totally fine?

[Butter]

A kid should not get arrested for putting a clock in a box, but I don't know if it is exactly worthy of being invited to the white house, either. Especially since, as all of you are stating about your own kids, young people everywhere are playing with circuits, arduinos, clock components and actually making their own stuff.

 

I do think it's a bit weird that he was invited to the White House since there have been other kids who have had similar things happen (including getting arrested), but I think that was the President (or maybe someone who runs his Twitter feed) writing the first thing to come to mind, not necessarily the President clearing his schedule for this kid.  He was specifically invited to the astronomy night at the White House.  It doesn't appear they are going to fly him out on taxpayer dollars to shake hands with the president.  https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/09/16/we-stand-ahmed-and-we-hope-hell-join-us-astronomy-night

 

I don't know any school where those things are allowed to be out and/or making noise during class to the point that the teacher would notice them. When I was in school, if any gadget made noise during class you'd get a warning and/or have the item confiscated. Are kids in high schools really allowed to use their phones and ipods in class these days? Or if it starts ringing and disrupts class that's totally fine?

 

Middle *and* high schools here.  They aren't allowed to ring.  They have to be on silent.  The middle schools are more strict.  Phones can only be out at lunch, passing periods, and if they are being used in class (it's crazy how much smart phones get used in class here - some classrooms have their own QR code to go to the teacher's website).  In high school, there are time listening to music in class (with headphones) is okay.  Texting is pretty much constant.  It's at the teacher's discretion so if he or she thinks it's not a disruption it's allowed.  The year my daughter was in public school she texted me several times every single day.  She is regularly texting with her friends in public school during the school day.  So, yeah, I know a whole bunch of schools where electronics are allowed to be out.  If they make noise, the student gets a warning to cut the sound off, but its not confiscated (unless of course the kid refuses to turn the sound off).