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A school isn't an airport. And he ASKED to show his ENGINEERING teacher a project he had created. It's not as if he just showed up with an assortment of PCB's a

A school isn't an airport. And he ASKED to show his ENGINEERING teacher a project he had created. It's not as if he just showed up with an assortment of PCB's and wires that he whipped out in class. In short, yes, it perhaps wasn't the greatest idea for Ahmed to be walking around in school with something that could be perceived as a bomb, but you'd think the police/school administration would have figured out he meant no harm after he told them several times that it was simply a clock. The outrage here is over the extreme reaction, not over the wisdom of his actions.

wutbrodo 11y ago
> In short, yes, it perhaps wasn't the greatest idea for Ahmed to be walking around in school with something that could be perceived as a bomb This part of the issue has been less focused on than the racist angle, but the fact that kids are scared to tinker because of the zero-tolerance hyper-sensitivity of schools is in my mind the more interesting part of the story. You're probably not wrong, but it's hugely sad to me that you consider it a bad idea to bring in a personal project, with permission, advance notification, and repeated clarifications of what it actually is, simply because it "could be perceived as a bomb" (which means it has wires?). I can't think of a better way to discourage kids from tinkering around with electronics.
- techman9 11y ago
  I absolutely agree with you and was going to post a comment to similar effect but couldn't really find the right words. I'm presently a university student so I'm really just a few years removed from Ahmed's age and mindset. It's tragic to me that the default position of figures of authority toward students who are interested in technology (even in today's increasingly technology driven world), is one of suspicion and fear. While I suspect that a lot of this is due to a generational divide between administrators and students, the message this sends is that students should not be interested in science and engineering because those topics sort of abstractly distant and scary. Students should be ENCOURAGED, not punished for being creative and inventive, even if it means they're being a little bit subversive or have viewpoints that run counter to those in people of positions of authority.
  - wutbrodo 11y ago
    > While I suspect that a lot of this is due to a generational divide between administrators and students I'm sure this is part of it, but the theory[1] that schools in general are built around churning out uncreative, docile workers for the industrial economy has been around for a long, long time. Hell, "Another Brick in the Wall" was, what, 1978? [1] Note that I'm specifying that this is a theory since I've never done enough research on both sides to feel certain that this is a particularly well-founded belief. What little I've heard is fairly plausible.
markdown 11y ago
> it perhaps wasn't the greatest idea for Ahmed to be walking around in school with something that could be perceived as a bomb And women should dress modestly because you know... there are bad people out there who might perceive a short skirt as an invitation, amirite?

wutbrodo 11y ago

> In short, yes, it perhaps wasn't the greatest idea for Ahmed to be walking around in school with something that could be perceived as a bomb This part of the issue has been less focused on than the racist angle, but the fact that kids are scared to tinker because of the zero-tolerance hyper-sensitivity of schools is in my mind the more interesting part of the story. You're probably not wrong, but it's hugely sad to me that you consider it a bad idea to bring in a personal project, with permission, advance notification, and repeated clarifications of what it actually is, simply because it "could be perceived as a bomb" (which means it has wires?). I can't think of a better way to discourage kids from tinkering around with electronics.

techman9 11y ago
I absolutely agree with you and was going to post a comment to similar effect but couldn't really find the right words. I'm presently a university student so I'm really just a few years removed from Ahmed's age and mindset. It's tragic to me that the default position of figures of authority toward students who are interested in technology (even in today's increasingly technology driven world), is one of suspicion and fear. While I suspect that a lot of this is due to a generational divide between administrators and students, the message this sends is that students should not be interested in science and engineering because those topics sort of abstractly distant and scary. Students should be ENCOURAGED, not punished for being creative and inventive, even if it means they're being a little bit subversive or have viewpoints that run counter to those in people of positions of authority.
- wutbrodo 11y ago
  > While I suspect that a lot of this is due to a generational divide between administrators and students I'm sure this is part of it, but the theory[1] that schools in general are built around churning out uncreative, docile workers for the industrial economy has been around for a long, long time. Hell, "Another Brick in the Wall" was, what, 1978? [1] Note that I'm specifying that this is a theory since I've never done enough research on both sides to feel certain that this is a particularly well-founded belief. What little I've heard is fairly plausible.

markdown 11y ago

> it perhaps wasn't the greatest idea for Ahmed to be walking around in school with something that could be perceived as a bomb And women should dress modestly because you know... there are bad people out there who might perceive a short skirt as an invitation, amirite?