The initial concern by the English teacher can be justified, maybe, because a timer for a tiger display would look like a timer for a bomb. But that’s where it ends: Ahmed had already shown the device to the engineering teacher, who knew that it was what Ahmed said, a clock. There was no reason to arrest this kid. There was no reason to suspend him. And the police spokesman’s statement was ridiculous. He said they questioned Ahmed, and all he said was that it was a clock. He didn’t offer a “broader explanation” of what it was for.
“A broader explanation”? Clocks, what are they for? That’s indeed a puzzle.
There is such a long list of stupid things that kids get suspended for, I wouldn’t put this one anywhere near the top. The police response is pretty ridiculous. But they didn’t throw him to the ground, or tase him, or worse.
Why? This is my point in asking how much this thing looked like a bomb. It doesn’t really look like a clock to me. Does anybody disagree that a kid should get into trouble if he brings a fake bomb to school, even if it is incapable of exploding?
What I’d like to know more about is what the engineering teacher actually said, and what exactly this kid said and did after that. Then I’d have a better sense of who to blame.
I just don’t understand why he was suspended from school when it because apparent (in a fairly short time) that it was a clock and not a bomb. This is the kind of situation that makes public schools look foolish and lacking in common sense. I’m hoping that the reporters left out some important details because really, much of this makes no sense to an outside like myself. Or maybe I am missing something.
I don’t see the Muslim connection. I see an overreaction rooted in a) zero tolerance and b) extreme fear brought on by so many school shootings and attempted school shootings. (There were incidents at a Texas middle school and at a Texas university recently.) Did the cops do the right thing? No. But to me the story is not race or ethnicity or religion but the kind of over-reaction fear brings. And to me, the actual story is not a story at all: he had an experience and I’d bet the police have spoken to him about it and he’s not being punished in any way by the school.
There was an example in Boston a few years ago when an MIT student wore a flashing pin with all sorts of electrical connectors on it to the airport - to the airport, of all places. They arrested her. What made that non-story a story is the police were attacked for arresting her, as though after 9/11 they should let people run around the airport with flashing things like that, with the subtext being that “she’s an MIT student” as if they should know that.
Contrast this with the stupidity of federal prosecutors who indicted the head of Temple’s physics department for selling a particular controller for nano-tech to the Chinese … but they never checked with actual experts and it thus took 2 years for anyone to realize that wasn’t a controller at all. In other words, indicted, labeled a spy and not corrected a day or two later but only after 2 years when finally the co-inventor of the controller got a look at it and said, “WTF?”
You’re right – if they’re using it as a reason for keeping him over night. But it’s a darned good reason for investigating the situation.
I won’t try to justify the handcuffing or the arrest. But I think you do detain the kid in a safe space on campus, like the VP’s office, until you know what’s what.
Hope the kid will get over the emotional trauma of the arrest soon. I feel that we are becoming the nation of wusses when it comes to science education in public schools. Several years ago, a beloved chemistry teacher with “unconventional” approach to teaching science was almost arrested for having “bombs” in his classroom. God forbid kids would ever learn what a carbide cannon is!
The three American heroes who risked their lives taking down the terrorist on the French train have yet to be invited to the White House, unless I missed that news. But a kid who is wrongly handcuffed does?
Our HS would never have called the police on this young man, but the staff is constantly remind of issues outside the building.
When my son went to FIRST nationals in St. Louis, he accidentally left his backpack at the Arch. The entire team, except the one Muslim student returned to the Arch and retrieved his backpack. I was surprised it was not blown up.
Several years later, another son was at a MUN convention in DC. The whole group was supposed to visit the State Department. Five minutes before they were to leave, the group was called out of line and told one of the kids did not pass security clearance. Info had to be submitted weeks in advance. They do not single out any individual students, but the kids think it was a Muslim girl who regularly travels to Egypt. She also happens to be a brilliant and sweet girl. They went to an embassy instead.
Uh, Tatin, that happened in France and they were very publicly feted by the French, medals and everything.
It irks me people are OK with an arrest without probable cause, that we should just be submissive to the whims of authority because that is our new, scary world. It is a very bad trend.
57 - Yes they were feted in France and Sacramento held a parade since they were from that area. But it struck me as an odd juxtaposition of what it takes to get invited to the White House. Victims - yes. Heroes - maybe not.
