Oh, Texas... Student arrested for building a clock.

T

topher80

11-man fan
What moron of a teacher couldn't tell a clock from a bomb? Further to that, what dumba** police department refuses to get the kid a lawyer or let him contact a parent before interrogating him? This kid's dream is to go to MIT and the Irving ISD and Irving PD is going to fund that dream! I hope he wins millions. Here are few links below... and there are plenty more on the web.

Oh Texas, I thought you were better than this... ;)

Gawker (not a big fan of this gossip site)
http://gawker.com/texas-high-school-has-muslim-teenager-arrested-for-buil-1731000257

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/u...g-a-clock.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/comm...ted-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school.ece
 
One of the things I do not know at this point, and probably never will, is what was the kid's intent. If it was simply to build a digital clock with nothing more implied then yes, he has been treated unfairly.
If,however, his intent was to create an incident then in my opinion his act is similar to walking into a crowded venue and shouting "fire" when there is none present.
We are not all fortunate to live in the liberal utopia that is Canada so you will just have to take us rednecked thugs as we are....... Flawed human beings.
 
The intent? The kid is a nerd who wanted to show off his creation... just one look at that kid and you can tell he was proud of what he built and wanted to brag.

Whoever the teacher and Principal who overreacted are, they need to be fired. I had a quick glance at the Dallas Morning News comments and 99.9% of people are outraged by how this was handled.

As for my liberal utopia, Canada is crap. I wish I would have been born in Norway or Iceland.
 
If a kid named Ahmed Muhammed came into my classroom with what that kid brought to school, and I didn't know the kid, I'd do something, too. I wouldn't risk the lives of my students on a hope that it was just a clock. I don't give a crap what the politically correct thing is to do. The teacher was probably acting on suspicion, i see nothing wrong with it. That being said, if the kid gets suspended, it's a shame. If he's a smart kid, he should understand the reason for the suspicion. Not saying it's right, but it is justified.
 
If a kid named Ahmed Muhammed came into my classroom
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... whoa. Are you kidding me? Please say you are joking...

This kid was suspended for 3 days even though he made a clock, further he was denied legal counsel, not allowed to contact his parents and was fingerprinted and interrogated.
 
No Topher, I'm not kidding you. Maybe up in Canada, where the rest of the world doesn't hate you, you have no problem taking chances with the rest of the kids lives, but here in post 9/11 America we don't take those chances. Like I said, if I knew Ahmed well enough, I may just play it off, but if I didn't, which may be the case in Arlington, I'd be suspicious. Did you see the clock? It looked like a bomb! All the other legal crap is up to the school and police. Did the police overreact? Probably....the teacher? No!
 
techster2000":27jsx57a said:
Beyond that I'd be suspicious if ANY kid I didn't know brought that thing to school.
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Correct response IMO. In today's society it's understandable regardless of ethnicity. In regards to ethnicity, I think most of us have read/seen reports of Islamic's using kids to deploy weapons. As the North Vietnamese did. To "err on the side of caution" is appropriate. Would you want your kid's blown up by a "clock"?
 
No Topher, I'm not kidding you... but here in post 9/11 America we don't take those chances.
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I wrote a long response but in the end I decided to just delete it. No matter what I say, it isn't going to change your mind techster2000 and that is perfectly fine. In the end, I hope this kid in Irving sues the living hell out the ISD and Police Department and gets a ton of $$ so he can go on to MIT.
 
Well, the kid gets a visit with Obama.......... Don't you think that's punishment enough?................. Of course if the kid's name was Bubba Jones big 0 wouldn't give it a second thought........
 
"What moron of a teacher couldn't tell a clock from a bomb"? Just about anyone, teacher or not, that's not trained to deal with IED's. It looks mysterious to me, circuit boards, wires, where is the time displayed? I guess I'm paranoid.
 
RoyalandGold: That was the point I was trying to make... he was just a kid who created a clock and got massively screwed over.

51eleven: I think you are probably a bit paranoid... having taught Robotics and Computer Science in the past, I can definitely say that these people in Irving really, really, really messed up.
 
It was not his teacher that turned him in. A different teacher saw some random kid walking down the hall with what looked like a bomb and turned him in. id do the same, or at least confront the kid. How is this so hard to understand? I hope that every teacher is as cautious as this one. What happened to the kid after was overboard, I admit, but better cautious than sorry. This is NOT a race thing, a religious thing, or even a conservative/liberal thing....this is a child safety thing.
 
You better believe "Better safe than sorry". A teacher isn't supposed to take chances. A teacher's personal responsibility is to report all abuse or SUSPECTED ABUSE. Even FB coaches don't let a kid lead with his head so why wouldn't they be careful in the halls?
Anyone who also doesn't have the Islam threat imbedded in the back of their mind is just not being honest with themselves. Kids are used every day for acts of terror/war. What makes you/us so special to think something bad couldn't happen? People used to think no one could possibly be shot in school.

At least it's FB season.
 
RoyalandGold":43o4uoe7 said:
Honestly your responses are beyond idiotic...I pray that you have nothing to do with teaching children! Sick of you guys that always use politics, race, religion, etc in every discussion possible! Get a life and live outside your little prejudice bubble!
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I love the SJW's who get on here - or anywhere - and put on self-righteous airs. Your ignorance is as palpable as your hypocrisy. To pretend for a second that all the "prejudiced, political, religious bigotry is all on my side of the table is to bathe in stupidity.

The only idiots here are the ones hiding behind a pretend wall of hatred - people like you.
 
My first look at the so called "clock", and I could see exactly what the kid had done. It may or may not be an actual working example of a clock, but it was made to draw attention and suspicion. He is a smart kid and knew exactly what kind of reaction he would get. He intended to get a reaction, and the one he got was some stupid person who played right into his little plot. Most teachers would have handled this correctly without the big show, and Ahmed would have gone home slightly disappointed that he did not recieve the attention that he sought., But, he happened to run into the stupid teacher who reacted.

And then the police really screwed it up.
 
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