#IStandWithAhmed

[Tangerine]

If it hasn't been posted, here is a breakdown of the components:

 

http://makezine.com/2015/09/16/this-is-ahmed-mohameds-clock/

[Barb_]

:iagree:

 

I think they were all irked that he was simply stating the fact that it was a clock and asking for his parents, instead of cowering, "admitting" it was a hoax, and signing whatever they put in front of him. So they decided to teach this smart-ass Muslim boy a lesson by arresting him, booking him, fingerprinting him, refusing to let him call his parents, etc., thinking that would scare the crap out of him and teach him some respect for authority.

Bingo.

[justasque]

If it hasn't been posted, here is a breakdown of the components:

 

http://makezine.com/2015/09/16/this-is-ahmed-mohameds-clock/

 

I'm impressed that his clock runs on AC power; we've only dabbled in DC here.  Which raises the questions:

Who builds a bomb that needs to be plugged in?  Who builds a "hoax bomb" or "movie bomb" that needs to be plugged in?  

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

Fortunately, thanks to social media, the rest of the world decided to teach him a better lesson.

 

Slight rabbit trail, but when people complain about social media and always being connected I want to refer them to stories like this.

[LucyStoner]

I wanted to like this too, but in the end the fact that it is "bits and baubles" and not "bits and bobbles" prevented me.

 

As for the story of the OP, I have nothing to add that hasn't been said. This story makes me feel like I am in an alternate universe.

You know, it's also ordnance instead of ordinance.

 

If we all paid for our fast mobile device typing errors by the word, many of us would be screwed. Typing homonyms is my particular folly.

 

At least no kittens died. :P

[kitten18]

If it hasn't been posted, here is a breakdown of the components:

 

http://makezine.com/2015/09/16/this-is-ahmed-mohameds-clock/

The comments below that article are extremely disturbing.

Why did I read the comments?

I should never read the comments. Ugh

[redsquirrel]

:iagree:

 

I don't think anyone at the school, including the English teacher who reported it, ever thought it was actually a bomb. According to Ahmed, the teacher said "it looks like a bomb" and he replied that he didn't think it looked like a bomb. He also said that one of the policemen told him "it looks like a movie bomb." I think the English teacher thought that Ahmed intended it to look like a bomb, and was being a smart-ass by claiming it was just a clock and denying it looked like a bomb.

 

The fact that the police say they arrested him because he would only say it was a clock, and wouldn't elaborate or explain it further (as if there was more to explain), also suggests that they thought he was being a smart-ass by not agreeing that it looked like a bomb and admitting that he brought it to scare people. He says the principal threatened him with expulsion if he didn't cooperate by signing a written statement (with no lawyer or parent present???). 

 

I think they were all irked that he was simply stating the fact that it was a clock and asking for his parents, instead of cowering, "admitting" it was a hoax, and signing whatever they put in front of him. So they decided to teach this smart-ass Muslim boy a lesson by arresting him, booking him, fingerprinting him, refusing to let him call his parents, etc., thinking that would scare the crap out of him and teach him some respect for authority. 

 

Fortunately, thanks to social media, the rest of the world decided to teach him a better lesson.

 

Nothing like violating someone's civil rights and opening yourself up to a career ending lawsuit to stop someone from being "uppity."  Every now and again the whole world sees it happen and it doesn't go so well. Usually it's fine, but not this time, and I am glad. We get so few victories on this front.

[Word Nerd]

The comments below that article are extremely disturbing.

Why did I read the comments?

I should never read the comments. Ugh

 

It's a good place to disabuse anyone from the mistaken notion that everyone stands with Ahmed.

[idnib]

Out of likes as well.

 

This could turn into the best thing to ever happen to this kid and be his golden ticket out of that particular village.

 

I sincerely hope so. It's certainly a great twist: if you're surrounded by people who are really that ridiculous, they will jettison you out of there.

 

Why do people keep making excuses for THIS situation based on different context? Different context don't matter. There is only THIS context. This kid did not do anything even a little bit suspicious other than have basic knowledge of how to make a clock. Yes, of course, if he was leaving ticking timers hidden in suitcases on planes or under subway bus seats, then of course someone should investigate that very seriously. Which has absolutely NOTHING to do with this boy or his clock. Unless some here are seriously suggesting that all kids should be presumed international terrorist if they take a robotics or shop class and the police called anytime they use what they have learned to make basic things we all have in our homes. Because terrorist.

 

Seriously.

 

This whole situation seems like a sad commentary on the general state of STEM education in our country's public schools.

 

Yep. Sad sad sad.

 

Well, let's not be too hard on her. She probably knew that all she needed to do if it started ticking in her desk was snip the red wire. Duh.

 

Or is the blue wire? We'll find out with 1 second left to go. Cue the dramatic music!

 

The fact that the police say they arrested him because he would only say it was a clock, and wouldn't elaborate or explain it further (as if there was more to explain), also suggests that they thought he was being a smart-ass by not agreeing that it looked like a bomb and admitting that he brought it to scare people. He says the principal threatened him with expulsion if he didn't cooperate by signing a written statement (with no lawyer or parent present???). 

 

I think they were all irked that he was simply stating the fact that it was a clock and asking for his parents, instead of cowering, "admitting" it was a hoax, and signing whatever they put in front of him. So they decided to teach this smart-ass Muslim boy a lesson by arresting him, booking him, fingerprinting him, refusing to let him call his parents, etc., thinking that would scare the crap out of him and teach him some respect for authority. 

 

:iagree:

[RubberChickenGirl2]

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.

[Word Nerd]

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.

 

Except that she didn't. If she believed it was actually a bomb, she failed every student in that school, as she kept it in her desk for hours rather than immediately reporting it and calling for an evacuation.

[HomeAgain]

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.

 

E. She didn't evacuate the school, but sat there with it for hours until the end of the day.  Obviously not threatened.

[mathnerd]

The coolest article that I read on this topic so far:

 

Arab-looking man of Syrian descent found in garage building what looks like a bomb   :lol:

http://boingboing.net/2015/09/16/arab-looking-man-of-syrian-des.html

 

[Lang Syne Boardie]

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.

 

Nope. No quarter for a woman who stuck the thing in her desk for several hours. If it had been a bomb (and I still maintain any reasonably educated person ought to have been able to see that it wasn't, plus the student explained it was a clock), but if it had been a bomb, she wouldn't have saved anyone from it by stashing it in her desk.

 

She didn't err on the side of caution. She just erred.

 

 

[Butter]

 

Quote from one of the recent news articles:

The chief insisted that religion did not play a role in Ahmed’s arrest.  â€œWe live in an age where you can’t take things like that to school,†Boyd said.

 

 

 

 

Things like what, exactly?

 

 

A clock, apparently.

[Butter]

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.

 

Nope.  I really can't give her a break.  Not for this.

 

A. It looks like the innerds of a clock all put together to make it work.  I have a kid who likes to take things apart.  My dad (who also did that as a kid) says the trick is to put it back together so it works again.  My dad became an electrical engineer probably because of all the times he took things apart and put them back together.  Because of his experimenting he understood how things worked.  Also, I don't think it was ticking.  Digital clocks don't generally tick.  In order for his clock to work he had to plug it in.  So, even if it did tick, unless he was plugging it in while it was in his backpack it wasn't going to be ticking.

 

B. The teacher never once thought it was a real bomb.  If she had, she would have sounded an immediate alarm and had the school evacuated.  That I could give her a break for.  What she actually did I cannot.  They never accused him of making a bomb.  They accused him of making a *hoax* bomb.  The teacher kept it in her desk for several hours.  She knew there was no risk of the school blowing up.

 

C. Except, perhaps, people could tell it wasn't a bomb in this case.  All or most of the school shootings have been by white people.  He wasn't acting suspicious. He was happily and excitedly showing his creation to his teacher.

 

D. He told her it was a clock.  When she said it could look like a bomb to some people, he disagreed because it was a, you know, clock.

[mathnerd]

The coolest article that I read on this topic so far:

 

Arab-looking man of Syrian descent found in garage building what looks like a bomb   :lol:

http://boingboing.net/2015/09/16/arab-looking-man-of-syrian-des.html

 

Another one popped up!

 

Woz was arrested and sent to Juvie for taking a "bomb" to school:

https://www.facebook.com/stevewoz/posts/10153764415701282?

[justasque]

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.

 

 

A. See, to those of us who grew up tinkering with stuff in the garage, this looks like a clock.  Not like one you'd by in the store, but one you'd make at home, perhaps from a Heathkit kit or a kit you bought at Radio Shack.  I built a metronome once from a Heathkit.  Also, those of us who have done STEM classes - computer science or electrical engineering - have worked with these components.  It's not just a box of wires and electronics for us - we can at least identify some/most of the components even if we don't know the specific specs of each one.  We look at Ahmed's clock and say things like "Hey, cool idea to put it in a pencil box! How did you attach it?" or "Wow, that's a really great LED numerical read-out!  Where did you get it?  Did it come with input/output instructions or did you have to test it to figure them out" or "Wow, it runs on AC with a DC backup?  That's awesome - how did you know you had the right size transformer?"  (ETA - pic of clock with explanations of parts)

 

The school has an engineering class.  Presumably, they TEACH this stuff.  They probably OWN components like those, paid for by the taxpayers.  They ENCOURAGE the kids to learn how to use them.  Or at least they should.  

 

And the student explained that it was a clock.  If the teacher had concerns, she could have asked him to explain how it worked, and/or checked with the engineering teacher.

 

B. As PP's have said, she DID ignore it.  If it was a bomb, this would have been a very different story.  She treated it like a piece of electronics that beeped inappropriately during her class.  Like a cell phone would have been treated - confiscated until after class or after school.

 

C. The school authorities weren't LISTENING to this child.  They weren't hearing his excitement about this creation.  They didn't know him well enough to know he was a geeky, smart kid who dabbled in electronics.  That is a problem on so many levels.  Teachers are supposed to know the kids they are teaching.  Granted, it's the beginning of the school year, but still - a kid excited about learning and creating should be identified and encouraged, not labeled as a potential threat.

 

ALSO - Of course teachers need, sadly, to be on the lookout for disaffected kids who are up to no good.  There's nothing wrong with a "see something, say something" approach.  The problem in this story is that the administrators either 1) thought this was a bomb and didn't treat it that way (MAJOR safety fail, if that's the case), OR 2) knew it wasn't a bomb, but suspected the student intended to use his creation to fool people into thinking it was a bomb, and, after questioning him, STILL believed this warranted escalation despite the fact that he told them it was a clock, that he didn't think it looked like a bomb, and that he didn't have any greater purpose for the clock than the fun of making a clock.   Point being that they seemed not to get the concept of kids making scientific/electronic stuff for fun.  They should be ENCOURAGING kids to make stuff for fun, that's part of their JOB (the principal anyway, if not the English teacher) so it's problematic that they couldn't identify this behavior when faced with an excellent example of it.  Teacher questioning him?  Fine.  Principal questioning him?  Iffy, but whatever.  Escalating to the police?  Completely, unbelievably, over the top.  Cops giving him the full detainment/handcuff/mug shot/fingerprint treatment - completely unacceptable, as they should have been able to see after a brief interview that this kid did not intend to do anything with his clock but show off that he made a clock.  QUESTIONING HIM WITHOUT HIS PARENTS???  Completely illegal and unacceptable beyond belief.  This COULD  mean that people are less likely to "see something, say something" - but because of the POLICE reaction, not because of the boy's actions.

 

I cut the teacher a break.  I think the principal could have handled it better.  I think the cops behaved in an entirely unacceptable and illegal fashion.  I wouldn't have wanted them to interview my kids without me or my dh being there.  All the boy did is take what he learned in robotics class last year and apply it to a new project this year.  His teachers should have encouraged him, not gotten him arrested.  He is fourteen.  He is fourteen.  He is fourteen.

[Murphy101]

I was all on board to cut the English teacher lots of slack until she put it in her desk drawer. After that she was being either a blithering idiot or b word.

[Pam in CT]

Yeah, I did cut the English teacher slack, until I learned that *she* was the one who stuck the thing in a drawer.  Either it's alarming (so raise the alarm -- that, I get; really bad things have really happened in schools) or you're playing some kinda weird head game.  Which I am sorry to say, is what this looks like.

[justasque]

I was all on board to cut the English teacher lots of slack until she put it in her desk drawer. After that she was being either a blithering idiot or b word.

 

I'm ok with the desk drawer - that's what she'd do with a cell phone or, a clock, which beeped during class. Because neither a cellphone nor a clock should be assumed to be a bomb unless unusual circumstances indicate otherwise, which they did not.  

 

It's the escalation, starting with the principal, where it got crazy.

[SKL]

It's not unheard of that a kid's invention spooks people and gets the kid temporarily in trouble.  It happens to non-Muslims too.  In this day when you can't even draw a picture of a gun without getting suspended (no matter your race or religion), the boy shouldn't have had that in his backpack.

 

*********

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/02/florida-student-arrested-science-experiment-blast/2130381/

 

http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/10/moron-school-employee-feared-kids-science-project-resembled-weapon-so-star-teacher-suspended/

 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/609091/posts

 

When I was a kid, we used to get in trouble too when we brought inventions to school (without teacher permission).  Usually the teacher would break our stuff, throw it away, and then give us some additional consequence.  I don't remember the police ever being involved, but then our unauthorized inventions didn't tend to involve wires and timing devices.

[Murphy101]

It's not unheard of that a kid's invention spooks people and gets the kid temporarily in trouble. It happens to non-Muslims too. In this day when you can't even draw a picture of a gun without getting suspended (no matter your race or religion), the boy shouldn't have had that in his backpack.

 

*********

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/02/florida-student-arrested-science-experiment-blast/2130381/

 

http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/10/moron-school-employee-feared-kids-science-project-resembled-weapon-so-star-teacher-suspended/

 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/609091/posts

Yes. And those situations shouldn't have escalated like that either.

 

The fact that people were stupid yesterday does not justify perpetuating the stupid today.

[Pam in CT]

I'm ok with the desk drawer - that's what she'd do with a cell phone or, a clock, which beeped during class. Because neither a cellphone nor a clock should be assumed to be a bomb unless unusual circumstances indicate otherwise, which they did not.  

 

It's the escalation, starting with the principal, where it got crazy.

Yeah, I can see that... if she wasn't alarmed but it beeped or was otherwise distracting, and she'd stuck it in a drawer and told him he could retrieve it at the end of the day, that'd be a reasonable response...  But somehow it did end up in the principal's office with the police, so the escalation started somewhere (?).

 

 

Very glad that it looks like Ahmed will have alternative schooling options.  I can't imagine that returning would go over so well, at this point.

[Murphy101]

I'm ok with the desk drawer - that's what she'd do with a cell phone or, a clock, which beeped during class. Because neither a cellphone nor a clock should be assumed to be a bomb unless unusual circumstances indicate otherwise, which they did not.

 

It's the escalation, starting with the principal, where it got crazy.

Yes. That's what I meant. If she had simply taken it because it disrupted class, no big deal. Plenty of slack from me, no problems.

 

But they can't have it both ways. It cannot both be OMG she thought it might be a bomb or a precursor to a real bomb! And .. So she put it in her desk to deal with hours later.

[redsquirrel]

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.

 

I can't give the teacher a break because she did exactly the wrong thing if she actually thought it was a bomb.  If it were a bomb she should have pulled the fire alarm and had the school evacuated. I've been through a bomb scare and you get the children out and get the bomb squad in.  They bring dogs and big trucks and the kids get half the day off from school. The lockers get searched as well as everyone's backpacks, purses etc.

 

So, if you give her a break, you still have to hold her responsible for theoretically endangering everyone in the school.

 

Also, it was not "ticking" in his backpack. It was a clock and the alarm went off. She told him to turn it off (quite reasonably) and when he did she asked him about it etc.

 

Again, had she really and truly been concerned she should have pulled the fire alarm right then and there.

 

I am willing to give her a break for not being able to identify it as a clock. But I cannot give her a break for not following up properly if she thought it was a bomb.

 

I get the whole "If you see something, say something" mentality....but you will notice it's not "If you see something keep it in your desk for  hours and don't say anything for that entire time" because that is useless

 

 

As the lone dissenter do you think she acted reasonably? Are her actions defensible? If I had a kid in that school I would be pretty angry that a teacher thought it was reasonable to keep what she thought was a bomb in her desk for any amount of time without calling the proper authorities.

 

The school has an engineering class.  Presumably, they TEACH this stuff.  They probably OWN components like those, paid for by the taxpayers.  They ENCOURAGE the kids to learn how to use them.  Or at least they should.

 

Presumably they do.  Maybe they don't.  Does anyone know what the syllabus of a freshman high school engineering course in Texas looks like?  Is it just a newly-renamed shop class?

[myfunnybunch]

The fact that people were stupid yesterday does not justify perpetuating the stupid today.

 

I want this on a bumper sticker. And a t-shirt.

[SKL]

Yes. That's what I meant. If she had simply taken it because it disrupted class, no big deal. Plenty of slack from me, no problems.

 

But they can't have it both ways. It cannot both be OMG she thought it might be a bomb or a precursor to a real bomb! And .. So she put it in her desk to deal with hours later.

 

The teacher might not have been scared, but maybe she showed it to someone and that person got scared.

 

[Murphy101]

The teacher might not have been scared, but maybe she showed it to someone and that person got scared.

 

Ugh.

 

Well then I repeat.

 

That some people are stupid does not justify perpetuating stupid.

 

Hysteria is not good basis for law making or how to run a school.

[redsquirrel]

The teacher might not have been scared, but maybe she showed it to someone and that person got scared.

 

 

I think the other kids in his class saw it and started whispering 'Ahmed brought a bomb' to each other.  Over the course of the day it wafted up to the administration. I am sure another teacher or two saw it, none of them thought to ask a science teacher or the engineering teacher, and then things just took off from there.

 

[SKL]

Well if a person honestly believes there is danger, in a school full of kids, they should do something about it.  If it turns out later that they were wrong, then fine.  They can apologize and be educated.  Most people would say that was better than doing nothing and finding out later their fears had basis.

[SKL]

Did you read where the engineering teacher told the boy not to let the other teachers see it?  Why would he say that if it was obviously (in appearance) just a clock?

[redsquirrel]

Did you read where the engineering teacher told the boy not to let the other teachers see it?  Why would he say that if it was obviously (in appearance) just a clock?

 

and that is why I am willing to give the English teacher a break...up to the point where she didn't follow up properly.

[LizzyBee]

I have to say that in today's climate of mass school killings, that a teacher who didn't have the wherewithal to know exactly what the object was should have erred on the side of safety and reported it. (I wouldn't know, for instance.) So I don't fault the teacher. 

 

I do fault the police. They WERE aware that it was not a bomb and they charged him with making hoax bomb in the absence of any threat. THAT is egregious. And so very sad. 

 

It is very hard not to jump to the conclusion that had he been a nerdy (I mean that nicely) boy named Sam that there would have been no charges. I do hope that the charges are dropped, apologies are made, policies are changed, and some disciplinary measures are taken such as would happen in a lawsuit via monetary damages.

 

It's fine to check things out to be sure, but the arrest and suspension were over the top. Kids used to make these kinds of things in school, but now they're arrested for possessing them? No wonder we have to import cheap crap from China and our industrial infrastructure is dead.

[LizzyBee]

Did you read where the engineering teacher told the boy not to let the other teachers see it?  Why would he say that if it was obviously (in appearance) just a clock?

 

Maybe because he knew they would overreact. 

[Murphy101]

Did you read where the engineering teacher told the boy not to let the other teachers see it? Why would he say that if it was obviously (in appearance) just a clock?

It looks like a damn clock people. This isn't really a debate. It's a clock with clock innards. You don't see the mysterious scary witchery that works its magic unless you open the clock case to expose the circuit boards and wires. When it is closed, it looks like a pencil case with a digital clock face on one side.

 

To say it doesn't look like a clock, it looks like a bomb when you look inside it, is like saying a car doesn't look like a car if you pop the hood open.

 

I suspect the poor electronics teacher knows he works with morons, that his student has dark skin and an Arabic name, that possibly kids gathered around to see what cool thing was made would disruptive to classes, and that the school has vague zero tolerance policies that can be used to cover just about anything, even a clock.

[Corraleno]

It's not unheard of that a kid's invention spooks people and gets the kid temporarily in trouble.  It happens to non-Muslims too.  In this day when you can't even draw a picture of a gun without getting suspended (no matter your race or religion), the boy shouldn't have had that in his backpack.

 

*********

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/02/florida-student-arrested-science-experiment-blast/2130381/

 

http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/10/moron-school-employee-feared-kids-science-project-resembled-weapon-so-star-teacher-suspended/

 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/609091/posts

 

 

(1) IMO, those cases were also very poorly handled, and the students & teachers involved were treated unfairly.

 

(2) Those cases involved students (a) causing an explosion, (b) building a device that shoots projectiles, and (c ) actually building a bomb that was inactive but could be activated. So, while I feel the authorities overreacted in those cases, at least they involved items that could actually shoot or explode! 

 

Ahmed brought a CLOCK. The idea that he should have known better than to bring a homemade CLOCK to school is utterly absurd.

[LizzyBee]

Well if a person honestly believes there is danger, in a school full of kids, they should do something about it.  If it turns out later that they were wrong, then fine.  They can apologize and be educated.  Most people would say that was better than doing nothing and finding out later their fears had basis.

 

But they knew very quickly that it wasn't a bomb; otherwise, they would have evacuated the school. So they accomplished nothing except making themselves look stupid.

[Corraleno]

Did you read where the engineering teacher told the boy not to let the other teachers see it?  Why would he say that if it was obviously (in appearance) just a clock?

 

Because he knew they were idiots? Or maybe he knew that some of the teachers were big supporters of Irving's vehemently anti-Islamic mayor and feared that one of them would use this against a bright, harmless kid because of his name and skin color? 

[Guest]

Duh if the engineering teacher thought  it was anything but a clock, he'd have taken it away himself. It was a flipping clock and everyone knew it and that is not now and was never at any point in question.

 

A clock is still a clock even in the "post-911 world."

 

And you know what?! A 14 year old kid into making things is still a 14 year old kid into making things in "this post-911 world." Good grief with the constant trying to tie this foolishness in with an act of terrorism by insinuation. Real subtle.

[zoobie]

Well if a person honestly believes there is danger, in a school full of kids, they should do something about it. If it turns out later that they were wrong, then fine. They can apologize and be educated. Most people would say that was better than doing nothing and finding out later their fears had basis.

Let's assume the English teacher thought it was a bomb. Taking it and shoving it in a desk drawer? Wrong response. Continuing to hold classes in the room with the potential bomb? Wrong response. Nothing she did indicates that she thought the device was potentially harmful. She had a problem with Ahmed, not his clock.

[LizzyBee]

 

Quote from one of the recent news articles:

The chief insisted that religion did not play a role in Ahmed’s arrest.  â€œWe live in an age where you can’t take things like that to school,†Boyd said.

 

 

 

 

Things like what, exactly?

 

 

Based on that logic, when are they going to ban computers, smartphones, tablets, and watches? 

[Lady Florida.]

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.

 

 

A. It was not ticking (digital clocks don't tick). The alarm went off in class from what I read, but what if a cell phone alarm went off? Should a teacher be worried the cell phone is a bomb? It was not in a backpack, or even a briefcase as some articles suggest. It was in a pencil case approximately 8 x 5 inches in size. Plus it had a plug. A clearly visible plug. Why do people keep missing that? What terrorist homemade bomb relies on being able to find an outlet?

 

B. Again, not a backpack. As others said, if the teacher was so concerned for safety, why then did she keep it for hours? Couldn't the entire school have blown up by the time she turned it in? Also, he repeatedly told her it was a clock. 

 

C. Why is this an odd situation? And did you read what the police officer said when Ahmed was brought in to the room? "That's who I thought it was". Seems quite like racial profiling to me. Also, they refused to allow this minor to contact his parents. Nothing illegal being done by law enforcement there, right? You'd be perfectly fine with your kid being interrogated and told he can't contact you because he's in the middle of being interrogated?  

 

A kid brings a homemade clock to school. He proudly shows it to the engineering teacher who says not to show it around. Does the engineering teacher not have any idea either that it was missing key parts of a "bomb"? And why didn't he tell the kid why he shouldn't show it around. Like "Hey, Ahmed this is a cool clock and you did a great job. You know, some other teachers might get the wrong impression so you should probably just leave it in my classroom and pick it up after school.

 

D. Of course not. But the teacher should be expected to promptly turn in something she thinks has the potential to explode. 

 

I feel like we're playing a game of telephone (some call it post office). A digital clock in a pencil case has an alarm set, alarm goes off, and somehow becomes a ticking bomb in a backpack.

 

ETA: Someone pointed out to me in a PM that it was in a pencil box in his backpack. I misunderstood and was indeed in his backpack. I stand by everything else I said. 

[SKL]

It looks like a damn clock people. This isn't really a debate. It's a clock with clock innards. You don't see the mysterious scary witchery that works its magic unless you open the clock case to expose the circuit boards and wires. When it is closed, it looks like a pencil case with a digital clock face on one side.

 

To say it doesn't look like a clock, it looks like a bomb when you look inside it, is like saying a car doesn't look like a car if you pop the hood open.

 

I suspect the poor electronics teacher knows he works with morons, that his student has dark skin and an Arabic name, that possibly kids gathered around to see what cool thing was made would disruptive to classes, and that the school has vague zero tolerance policies that can be used to cover just about anything, even a clock.

 

I thought he opened it in order to turn off the alarm, in the middle of English class.  So the teacher and students did see the innards.  And no, that does not look like a clock to most people.

 

[DragonFaerie]

I thought he opened it in order to turn off the alarm, in the middle of English class.  So the teacher and students did see the innards.  And no, that does not look like a clock to most people.

 

 

But the thing is, that doesn't matter.  If the teacher truly thought it was a bomb, why wouldn't she pull the fire alarm, evacuate the school, and call the authorities?  Why in the world would any rational person put anything that might be a bomb into her desk and continue to conduct classes all day long?  She's either really, really dumb, or she did not really think it was a bomb.

[Butter]

Presumably they do.  Maybe they don't.  Does anyone know what the syllabus of a freshman high school engineering course in Texas looks like?  Is it just a newly-renamed shop class?

 

Texas classes are not uniform across the board.  The school districts have a lot of leeway and schools within the districts have some and then teachers can even get permission to change a class around (for example, when my daughter was in 9th, her geography teacher got permission from our ISD to teach the class differently, mostly covering human geography, and they decided to use her classes as a test for changing the whole district).  So the question that needs to be answered is what is the syllabus of the specific class at the specific school where this student attends.  Teachers have webpages that are easily gotten to on the school's website and some of them include syllabi and what not.  You'd need his engineering teacher's name to potentially answer your question.

 

I think the other kids in his class saw it and started whispering 'Ahmed brought a bomb' to each other.  Over the course of the day it wafted up to the administration. I am sure another teacher or two saw it, none of them thought to ask a science teacher or the engineering teacher, and then things just took off from there.

 

 

I volunteered for a while in the front office of a middle school.  Rumors spread, they make it to the admin, and the admin get to the bottom of it.  Rarely, very rarely, is what the rumor says actually what happened.  It's the nature of rumors.  Even if the principal heard a rumor that Ahmed had a bomb, it was irresponsible to call the police before investigating further and asking the kid what he had (note: if a bomb squad was being called and the school was being evacuated then that would be different - that was totally not what was going on).

[Butter]

I thought he opened it in order to turn off the alarm, in the middle of English class.  So the teacher and students did see the innards.  And no, that does not look like a clock to most people.

 

 

But it does in fact look a whole lot like clock innards.

[unsinkable]

How did the incident escalate from the English teacher to the police?

 

Did the English teacher bring it to the admins?

[SKL]

 

Ahmed brought a CLOCK. The idea that he should have known better than to bring a homemade CLOCK to school is utterly absurd.

 

You aren't supposed to bring your fun stuff to school unless it's for show-and-tell.  I get that he brought it to proudly show his electronics teacher, but don't expect the English teacher to know that when the alarm goes off in the middle of her class.  It's not the end of the world, but yeah, teachers tend to be strict about people bringing distracting irrelevant stuff to class.  It didn't belong there, especially with the alarm set.

 

When I was a kid, we did that sort of thing to annoy teachers, and we took our punishment (which, granted, didn't involve cops in our case).  We didn't expect handcuffs, but we didn't expect praise either.

 

I think arrest was way over the top, assuming it's true that the cops knew this was not a bomb and the boy never implied that it might be.  But then, I think a lot of things people do nowadays (in the name of "safety") are way over the top.

 

In hindsight, the electronics teacher should have held onto the invention for the boy until the end of the school day.  He sensed it was likely to cause trouble.