Dallas High School Student Arrested for Making a Digital Clock!

[Ms. Spam]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ahmed-mohamed-irving-texas-clock

 

Ahmed Mohamed was wearing a NASA T-shirt when he was placed in handcuffs and led out of his high school.

 

The 14-year-old had brought a homemade digital clock to MacArthur High School in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

 

Now, the teenager, who described his hobbies as "inventing stuff" is suspended and may be charged with making a hoax bomb, according to a Tuesday report from the Dallas Morning News.

Because it looks like a movie bomb. Thank god this was a Dallas/Ft Worth school. I'd be mortified as a teacher if it was the district I teach in. Way to reward initiative and breaking a chain of racial profiling, Irving school admins and police. I think based on the article he was just trying to find like minded students that would be of the same kind he was "in" with at the middle school but you know, we should always give in to caution on the far right side.

[DANA-kin Skywalker]

His fault for buying the components from Acme Hardware store.

[Darth Ender]

Keep in mind, due to FERPA law, the school cannot release any information on this case to defend their position. I am not saying that this report is inaccurate, but we are only presented with one side.

 

I suspended a student and the mom tried to get me fired and went to the media. She claims I suspended and went for expulsion because her daughter gave her friend an aspirin. The real story was she was crushing up the aspirin, passing it off as cocaine, and selling it to students as young as nine. Other parents initially believed it was cocaine, law enforcement was involved, etc. Her friends were happy to volunteer what little, if any (whether true or not) information to support her friend to others including the media. Additionally, passing off a facsimile of an illegal substance is an automatic referral to expulsion (which is NOT being expelled).

[Ms. Spam]

I am home sick today so I admit this article is biased that I linked but I did it mostly for lolz and trollz. As a teacher, Ender, I do know that there is the school's side and they are citing school handbook policy concerning material that students can bring. They are also asking that students stay alert and report anything suspicious.

I think my biggest problem with this is "Over-reaction".

How can we make this a teaching moment especially with #blacklivesmatter and seeing this as a really awkward teen freshman who was trying to brownnose some teachers into making a science club? Kids are immature and we should not be reacting quite this way. I guess another way to say this is how do I keep you from being accused of something like your issue with the Mom trying to get you fired but still maintain some transparency?

Stuff like this makes me thing Cerina has a point in going with homeschooling because this feels facepalm-like. I do think public schools are important. It is often school that makes citizens of us because parents come to board meetings and we get a democratic feel for what government is really supposed to be doing. School is socializing us from the high strung lady like your Mom, to kids looking for acceptance, to everyone wanting to feel safe in their own environment.

[Driver]

Either way-- Obama just invited the kid to the White House, so he's coming out just fine.

[Ms. Spam]

NASA has invited him too.

 

And of course there's a visit to the abagados office. Can't wait to see the law suits.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

I was outraged on the behalf of this kid, until I read this part:

 

 

 

Now, the teenager, who described his hobbies as "inventing stuff" is suspended and may be charged with making a hoax bomb, according to a Tuesday report from the Dallas Morning News.

 

and

 

 

 

Mohamed said, "I made a clock." But to a police officer who questioned Mohamed at the school said, “It looks like a movie bomb to me,” according to DMN.

 

This kid didn't simply make a clock, he intentionally made a device to resemble a bomb, as per the picture in the article. This kid was being an idiot and knew what he was doing. This is the same thing as someone calling in a fake bomb threat at a school, or pulling a fire alarm. Now, I understand that schools can be heavy handed in disciplining kids (IE the punishment doesn't fit the crime), and I don't necessarily think his life should be ruined with jail time or anything as long as he is a good kid otherwise, but let's not be naive to think this kid didn't know better. He did. I mean on one hand, they are praising him for being so smart he can "invent things," yet he is too stupid and naive to know he shouldn't be building electronic stuff that looks like bombs? That doesn't wash for me. He's just sorry now because he is now facing the consequences of his stupid actions, at least he did temporarily. He's lucky the charges were dropped.

 

Either way-- Obama just invited the kid to the White House, so he's coming out just fine.

 

NASA has invited him too.

 

And of course there's a visit to the abagados office. Can't wait to see the law suits.

 

 

 

Way to reward bad behavior. Any law suits this kid's parents file should be laughed out of court and dismissed as frivolous. He should be thankful for not having charges filed and be done with it.

[Driver]

I don't think you're considering his intent. I really don't think it's the same as a bomb threat. If this is a kid who makes good grades, likes NASA, and was taking this to science class, even if he thought it looked like a movie bomb he probably didn't think his teacher would lose it. He probably thought it was funny. Maybe he's even a little bit sarcastic and thought it would be funny if the middle eastern kid made a fake bomb.

 

Smart? Not really. Malicious intent? I don't think so.

 

He didn't go into school pretending he had a bomb. He went in saying, hey look at my clock! It's DA BOMB LOL GET IT?

 

And since he wasn't at an airport, he thought maybe people would find it funny.

 

I'm theorizing of course, but while I agree he mad a poor choice, I don't think it is the same as making a bomb threat.

[Cerina]

Ahh the media. In this article (which the one above was TRYING DESPERATELY to misquote) that conversation went quite differently.

 

 

 

“She was like, it looks like a bomb,” he said.

“I told her, ‘It doesn’t look like a bomb to me.’”

The teacher kept the clock. When the principal and a police officer pulled Ahmed out of sixth period, he suspected he wouldn’t get it back.

They led Ahmed into a room where four other police officers waited. He said an officer he’d never seen before leaned back in his chair and remarked: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.”

Ahmed felt suddenly conscious of his brown skin and his name — one of the most common in the Muslim religion. But the police kept him busy with questions.

The bell rang at least twice, he said, while the officers searched his belongings and questioned his intentions. The principal threatened to expel him if he didn’t make a written statement, he said.

“They were like, ‘So you tried to make a bomb?’” Ahmed said.

“I told them no, I was trying to make a clock.”

“He said, ‘It looks like a movie bomb to me.’”

[Ms. Spam]

He actually had already shown it to a physics/science teacher and nothing was made of it beyond what I suspect any teacher would when presented by a student showing off some extra curricular work. It wasn't until it beeped and a English teacher heard the beep from his backpack that the whole thing blew up.

 

It might because I'm kinda strung out on meds for a sinus infection but I actually view this from all the angles in a I-am-not-taking-this-seriously way. For instance I'm pretty sure I'd roll my eyes at the English teacher who blew this out of proportion. I am also laughing at a twitter joke that he was racially profiled because his clock used Arabic numbers. I also like that snap shot of him in handcuffs. Someone said that it was magical that we were able to photograph the exact moment that a young person realized the world is a terrible place.

[Cerina]

that the whole thing blew up.

 

There's a joke there...somebody help me out here.

[Driver]

I'm not helping you. nobody laughed at my ISN'T MY CLCOK THE BOMB joke

[Cerina]

Because you followed it up with "LOL GET IT"

[Ms. Spam]

I laughed. But once again I should mention sinus infection and Benadryl are my friends.

 

Cerina - I totally get homeschooling as a choice when stuff like this comes up. It's about the only time I think homeschooling is worthwhile. I also admit to searching purposely for a linked article from a liberal newspaper so mea culpa on the tone of that article.

[Darth Ender]

I am home sick today so I admit this article is biased that I linked but I did it mostly for lolz and trollz. As a teacher, Ender, I do know that there is the school's side and they are citing school handbook policy concerning material that students can bring. They are also asking that students stay alert and report anything suspicious.

I think my biggest problem with this is "Over-reaction".

How can we make this a teaching moment especially with #blacklivesmatter and seeing this as a really awkward teen freshman who was trying to brownnose some teachers into making a science club? Kids are immature and we should not be reacting quite this way. I guess another way to say this is how do I keep you from being accused of something like your issue with the Mom trying to get you fired but still maintain some transparency?

Stuff like this makes me thing Cerina has a point in going with homeschooling because this feels facepalm-like. I do think public schools are important. It is often school that makes citizens of us because parents come to board meetings and we get a democratic feel for what government is really supposed to be doing. School is socializing us from the high strung lady like your Mom, to kids looking for acceptance, to everyone wanting to feel safe in their own environment.

How do we know this is an overreaction when we will never know all of the information? For all we know, he was making remarks to students about it being a bomb and he would blow the place up.

 

Example #2: I suspended a kid for throwing lotion in another students face. At least that is what the mom wants you to believe. What is omitted is that student A was physically and sexually assaulted by student B earlier in the yeear. Student B was arrested, tried, and found guilty. Student C is student B's friend. Student C and other friends of student b all put lotion in their hands at lunch, run up to student A, throw lotion on her face, and make a variety of sexual innuendos (that were some of the most vile comments I have ever heard from human beings) while recording it with their phones.

 

I just want to be clear that I don't know if the school has more on this or not. If this was the reason he was suspended and nothing more, my hope is that this will be investigated by the district and staff will be punished for not properly following discipline guidelines. However, I reguarly deal with people getting bent out of shape due to my decisions when they only hear one inaccurate side. The situation calls for WONDERFUL entertainment and social outrage.

[Jacen123]

 

that the whole thing blew up.

 

There's a joke there...somebody help me out here.

 

Nah, I don't want to help you defuse the tension.

[Ms. Spam]

That's why I used the lame air quotes around over-reaction - my own joking about this has been over-reaction too. We know as teachers and administrators that one single thing that we would not think twice about may also be the one thing that can kick over a hornets nest of ridiculousness. I knock on fake wood, real wood and anything else that will give me good graces in school that the most difficult thing I've dealt with in my small years as a teacher is that I had a student flip a desk over in class and throw a book. For which he was promptly removed from class and was later taken to a kind of emotional trauma kids school which would help him better than I could. Besides that it has been just minor run-ins with Mom's who feel it is my job to raise their kids who were failing but there is that possibility that eventually I maybe sued or the school district.

 

It's amazing with social media and kids who can film things happening how fast something like this can get around. This just happened today! And already it has gone around the world so your moderate tone bring us back down to earth posts should make us stop and see this from the schools point of view. But I'm going to have some fun for a little while longer before I have to go back to school tomorrow.

[Cashmere]

I have no problem with the teacher who reported something suspicious to her superiors. Better safe than sorry.

 

There was no need to get the police involved though. And definitely no reason to cart him off in handcuffs. That's where it seems common sense was thrown to the wind.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

I don't think you're considering his intent. I really don't think it's the same as a bomb threat. If this is a kid who makes good grades, likes NASA, and was taking this to science class, even if he thought it looked like a movie bomb he probably didn't think his teacher would lose it. He probably thought it was funny. Maybe he's even a little bit sarcastic and thought it would be funny if the middle eastern kid made a fake bomb.

 

Smart? Not really. Malicious intent? I don't think so.

 

He didn't go into school pretending he had a bomb. He went in saying, hey look at my clock! It's DA BOMB LOL GET IT?

 

And since he wasn't at an airport, he thought maybe people would find it funny.

 

I'm theorizing of course, but while I agree he mad a poor choice, I don't think it is the same as making a bomb threat.

What I think is this kid did this as a stupid prankish joke without violent intent. But at the same time, when we live in an age where kids show up and shoot other kids to death in schools, joke or not, something like this is irresponsible, and I think this kid knew what he was doing. He might not have understood the consequences he would face, but I think he definitely was going for some shock value, there. However, even though he might not have intended violence, that does not excuse him from common sense. At 14, especially these days, he should be expected to know he shouldn't be going around with a device that looks like a bomb at school.

 

Now, I am not saying he should have been charged criminally necessarily, if it were found he was normally well behaved, didn't have a violent background, and hadn't done something like that before. But I definitely think disciplinary action by the school is warranted, including possibly suspension.

[Cerina]

I haven't seen anything that suggests he did it as a joke or a prank. His story is that he made a clock and brought it to show a teacher. How is that a prank?

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

I haven't seen anything that suggests he did it as a joke or a prank. His story is that he made a clock and brought it to show a teacher. How is that a prank?

Oh, I don't know. The fact that it resembles a BOMB? What purpose does that serve? It's inappropriate to bring a device that resembles a bomb like that to school.

 

[Jacen123]

I heard that the teachers did this for his own safety. They were afraid that if he kept this up, he might ultimately lose a digit or two.

[monkeygirl]

What's a "movie bomb"

 

I thought that referred to things like Ishtar

[Guest]

There's too little info given to really make a comment, but that's never stopped me before.

 

Initial thought: Seems ridiculous.

 

Later thought: Obama likes to jump into the middle of these situations without any knowledge, so seems likely that the kid was scaring people saying it was a bomb or something.

 

Current thought: If that's exactly what was in the case, and he never said it was a bomb, then I think the initial thought was right. Doesn't look like a bomb unless everything with wires looks like a bomb. And a complete lack of explosives.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

There's too little info given to really make a comment, but that's never stopped me before.

 

Initial thought: Seems ridiculous.

 

Later thought: Obama likes to jump into the middle of these situations without any knowledge, so seems likely that the kid was scaring people saying it was a bomb or something.

 

Current thought: If that's exactly what was in the case, and he never said it was a bomb, then I think the initial thought was right. Doesn't look like a bomb unless everything with wires looks like a bomb. And a complete lack of explosives.

Not everything with wires looks like a bomb, true. But a reasonable person can reasonably mistake a digital clock constructed from Radio Shack parts and strategically placed in a metal briefcase for a bomb or IED, or something intended to look like one.

 

And that brings up another question: would we even be having this conversation if this kid wasn't Muslim? Would he even have been invited to the White House? Methinks not. I think a lot of people are rushing to this kids defense because they want to be politically correct and proclaim "OMG not all Muslims are terrorists!" I certainly don't think this kid is a terrorist, and I think this was a smart kid just messing around, and doing something dumb, but the political correctness police has certainly co-opted this story.