I was sick of the briefcase vs. pencil case pics so I created the attachment image shown below feel free to use it if it is helpful. It is somewhat close to scale, at least for the purposes of explaining the stupid inflammatory side-by-side pic that has a round clock on it.
I have an seem more than one person say, it's sad that the school overreacted like that, but it toes okay, no harm done!
Really? No harm? What about this kid's scientific curiosity? His comfort level at school? His relationships with his classmates and teachers? They really think that's all going to go back to normal??
I read that he made a statement that he's switching schools. Which on one hand I think that's good, but he shouldn't have to, you know? This never should have happened. Hopefully a great stem school snaps him up.
I can totally understand why the English teacher thought it looked like a bomb, because it sort of does. But the reaction by the administrators and police was completely over the top and totally inexcusable.
it looks like a bomb?
it looks like the inside of a digital clock might look. Google image "inside of a digital clock"
what's funny is it looks like a bomb because the kid is a brown muslim boy. If a 14 year old white girl with a blond ponytail brought the clock to school everyone would be like, hey, cool clock!
I don't think this is actually the case, though. My dad is a major tinker, and I grew up with all kinds of circuits and electrical projects and half built computers all over the house--just to give you a full picture of what I grew up with, he once took apart a sewing machine and somehow put a motorcycle engine in it instead so he could sew upholstery faster. He has stories of being called into the principal's office in high school over some of the tinkered things that he brought in to school as projects and teachers being called in to confirm that they were not explosives. People keep saying that a 15 year old white boy named John wouldn't have even been questioned about it, but I know first-hand that a 15 year old white boy named Mike...WAS. I keep hearing this rhetoric in the media that the English teacher 'should have easily known' that it was a clock, but Ahmed himself said that his engineering teacher suggested that he not show the clock to anyone else at school. The inference here is clear--the engineering teacher KNEW that it either could or would be interpreted as something other than a clock.
Actually, the engineering teacher's action's here piss me off to no end. If you know that it could/would possibly be interpreted as a bomb, why wouldn't you say, "Hey Ahmed, I think this is awesome. I'm concerned that other teachers who aren't familiar with circuitry might not realize this is a clock. Why don't you let me keep the clock here in my room until school's out so that you don't get hassled for it?" The engineering teacher completely hung him out to dry.
But, I don't understand why everyone seems to be so insistent on pressing the idea that it was racial discrimination from the get-go, when there is really no evidence for that at all (unless the English teacher has made some statement that I'm not aware of). What we DO know and SHOULD be focusing on is the fact that a situation that could have been resolved with a call to the engineering teacher was erroneously escalated by either the school or the police, and that THAT escalation was likely due to Ahmed's race. To stomp our feet and insist that an English teacher should have known what a DIY clock made by an engineering student would look like is muddying the waters, and not helpful in having any real discourse in my opinion.
I was sick of the briefcase vs. pencil case pics so I created the attachment image shown below feel free to use it if it is helpful. It is somewhat close to scale, at least for the purposes of explaining the stupid inflammatory side-by-side pic that has a round clock on it.
I was sick of the briefcase vs. pencil case pics so I created the attachment image shown below feel free to use it if it is helpful. It is somewhat close to scale, at least for the purposes of explaining the stupid inflammatory side-by-side pic that has a round clock on it.
"Handy adjustable shoulder strap" is KILLING me.
LOL - I can't take credit for that.
Disclaimer - the pic with dimensions on the left came with the lines and stuff - I copied that pic from a supply catalog and inserted the wording "size of briefcase..." Then on the right I adjusted the size of the "VAultz Locking Pencil box..." from amazon and put it next to the other, making it a little less than half the length of the big suitcase because of the dimensons of 8.25 v. 17.5. and then I copied and pasted the product description "vaultz...(VZ01479)."
it looks like the inside of a digital clock might look. Google image "inside of a digital clock"
what's funny is it looks like a bomb because the kid is a brown muslim boy. If a 14 year old white girl with a blond ponytail brought the clock to school everyone would be like, hey, cool clock!
Actually, the engineering teacher's action's here piss me off to no end. If you know that it could/would possibly be interpreted as a bomb, why wouldn't you say, "Hey Ahmed, I think this is awesome. I'm concerned that other teachers who aren't familiar with circuitry might not realize this is a clock. Why don't you let me keep the clock here in my room until school's out so that you don't get hassled for it?" The engineering teacher completely hung him out to dry.
What you wrote there is almost word for word what I stated on my FB page.
I have seen this going around, but I struggle with it because they never accused him of having a bomb. They accused him of having a hoax bomb. Which becomes a zero tolerance of joking about violence on campus issue. And it involves police because it's like yelling fire in a theater.
And all of it could be avoided if that damn engineering teacher had asked to hold the box when he saw it first thing that morning.
Post by oscarnerdjulief on Sept 18, 2015 15:54:15 GMT -5
Berrysweet,
I totally agree. I am an English teacher and have little to no knowledge of what the insides of anything mechanical look like. That's just my lack of expertise. I couldn't fix anything or put anything together if I had to. I am pretty certain that I could not tell the difference between a bomb and a clock, even though I watched every season of 24. (jk)
A few of the school's reactions are puzzling. Re the engineering teacher keeping it in his room, maybe there wasn't enough room, or maybe he was afraid that the students would think that it was what the teacher ended up thinking it was. Something like that in a classroom can be very distracting. You'd be surprised what makes the kids distracted or off-task. Maybe he was worried they'd be talking "bomb" all day.
I have seen this going around, but I struggle with it because they never accused him of having a bomb. They accused him of having a hoax bomb. Which becomes a zero tolerance of joking about violence on campus issue. And it involves police because it's like yelling fire in a theater.
And all of it could be avoided if that damn engineering teacher had asked to hold the box when he saw it first thing that morning.
I feel like if you're gonna punish someone for having a "hoax bomb" that person has to DO something to make others think it's a bomb. If the kid doesn't try to pass it off as a bomb, how is it a hoax bomb?