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THERE HAS BEEN a lot of talk today about the 14-year-old Muslim boy who was put in handcuffs by police at a Texas school after he built an electronic clock.
Ahmed Mohamed was taken from his school in handcuffs on Monday after bringing in the clock to show to his engineering teacher.
Another teacher saw it, thought it looked like a bomb and alerted authorities.
Andy Baio / TwitterThis story breaks my heart. Ahmed's smarter than the people hired to teach and protect him. http://t.co/FboC6zm74T pic.twitter.com/TD1ETZZ6qT
— Andy Baio (@waxpancake) September 16, 2015
Though the clock posed no danger to anyone in the school, the teenage boy was suspended for three days.
This letter was also sent out to parents of children at Irving MacArthur High School:
In the letter, principal Daniel Cummings says the school takes “immediate and necessary precautions” if it believes there is any threat to children.
He goes on to imply that the 14 year old may have breached the code of conduct, adding that the school is “co-operating fully with the ongoing police investigation”. This is despite the fact that the principal acknowledges in his own letter that the clock “did not pose a threat to your child’s safety”.
I recommend using this opportunity to talk with your child about the Student Code of Conduct and specifically not bringing items to school that are prohibited.
Cummings does not give details of why a clock might be a prohibited item.
Also, this is a good time to remind your child how important it is to immediately report any suspicious items and/or suspicious behaviour they observe to any school employee so we can address it right away.
News of the boy’s treatment sparked outrage in the last two days with many people criticising the school for punishing a child for being clever and innovative.
The latest to weigh in on the debate was US President Barack Obama who had a slightly different message for Ahmed Mohamed than his school did:
President Obama / TwitterCool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.
— President Obama (@POTUS44) September 16, 2015
He also got an invite to visit Facebook:
And there was even some praise from NASA:
NASA / TwitterWe're supporters of #STEM & inspiring kids like Ahmed to pursue their dreams. Get involved: http://t.co/Bye4JcO1Ho pic.twitter.com/XEHsZs21sS
— NASA (@NASA) September 16, 2015
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Guns are not a problem. Clocks are dangerous especially, when the time runs out. It’s hard to take seriously.
Wouldn’t be a problem if everybody had a clock.
That’s what the National Clockmakers Association told me anyway.
Clocks don’t kill people. People with clocks kill people.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a clock, is a good guy with a cock.
maybe if he puts a Christian bible quote on the clock it will no longer look like a bomb…
Maybe he was going to kill time…..
what a country of imbeciles you couldn’t make it up
maybe they thought it was a glock and not a clock.
maybe they felt they were being watched.
Is this a wind up? If not it’s quite alarming.
His ‘engineering teacher’ should be looking for a new job if she honestly thought that a clock looked like a bomb.Although I nearly triggered a scare at Shannon once by carrying a weather clock with a wire wrapped around it in my laptop case.Security were called but once I showed them what it was all was cool.But an engineering teacher should know better.
@Jamsey, this article is missing an important point, he did bring the clock into the school to show the engineering teacher but it was in fact his English teacher who panicked, apparently it chirped in his bag and she asked to see it and it all went downhill from there.
Why write ‘engineering teacher’? I’m sure s/he has a degree in engineering and is teaching it so that person is an engineering teacher.
Of the other kids had also made clocks they could have defended themselves.
I’m still curious as to how you make a home made clock? Impressive!
Somewhere in Ireland tonight, John Joe Brennan is shedding a silent tear for humanity ;)
That’s exactly why women shouldn’t be Engineering teachers.
Actually Uncle Monty, it was his English teacher who reported the device as suspicious. Although nice attempt at trying to troll women.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/muslim-teen-arrested-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school-says-they-made-me-feel-like-i-wasnt-human-10503183.html?cmpid=facebook-post
It was a joke. That’s exactly why there are no funny female comedians.
Can’t think of any comedians named “Uncle Monty”.
I’m a lot younger than you, Robin, you wouldn’t have heard of me.
Monty, I think aislinné is a newby
life’s too short for all that being serious stuff. I can see why my comment might have come across as trollish but I don’t do troll. Bad jokes – yes, troll – no.
Crazy crazy USA strikes again
A clock of mass destruction!
honestly its sh!te like that that’s going to turn him against Americans or even white people in general. engineering teacher should have known better.
It was his English teacher.
Horology.
…seems like Ahmed needs a change of school…
He’s actually blessed that trigger happy American cops didn’t shoot him.
But what if it was a viable device? The school would be praised for their swift action.
In a country like America where shootings in school are rampant, I would expect schools to be on guard.
Yes uncle Sam
Eh… I don’t think a legit terrorist would go to his teacher and say “look what I made!”
I also don’t think a legit terrorist would have a big clock on it and have it make beep sounds. Methinks the teacher was watching too many Hollywood films
School shootings haven’t generally been by Muslims for religious or jihadi reasons. They’re mostly caused by disgruntled white boys bearing grudges.
They would have known pretty quickly it wasn’t a viable device, but still they handcuffed him and brought him to a detention centre from where he was questioned with no parent present as he was not allowed to ring his parents (illegal as he was a junior). They took a mug shot and fingerprints. He was suspended from school for three days for breaking some rule, but the principal still hasn’t said what rule he broke. Ridiculous.
Apparently whatever rule it was came down it being a “hoax bomb”. Where it gets weird though, is that if they initially thought it was a bomb why they never once contacted the bomb squad, just the police. They never sent an alert out or attempted an evacuation, so seems to me that the safety of the students was not the first priority here.
Tick tock
Obviously “Muslim + clock = Bomb”. The world has gone mad. You would wonder if it was a white Catholic who brought this into school would they have acted so harshly
Maybe in the north twenty years ago
To be fair to the police, they were contact with a bomb threat by a staff member of a school. Obviously, looking at the picture, the device looks suspicious and needed to be identified by specialists while detaining the reported suspect. I can imagine there would be twice as much uproar if the school had contacted the police and they gave a half arsed effort and it there ended up being a real threat. Everyone is feeling sorry for the kid who made the homemade clock and brought it to his school in a briefcase, but it was necessary to make sure it wasn’t a bomb considering past events.
Perhaps it could have been a home made and self assembled nuclear bomb. One can never be too sure what an average and everyday student might be doing. Shoot them dead first, just in case. Take no chances.
no one needed to be cuffed though… right?!!
According to reports from Texas the bomb squad WEREN’T contacted. Read into that what you will.
omg a clock can’t harm anyone
This article has a picture of what the device loos like http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/55f96557e4b0b48f6701519c .
It really doesn’t look like a clock and I guess the teacher had to report it as she didn’t know what it was.
ok but no one needed to be cuffed… …right?!!
They decided to arrest him anyway, accusing him of a “hoax bomb”.
I heard him on the radio today, he played the ” because im a muslim” sad so bloody sad. If he thought that did he do it on purpose.
keh?
Von you are a fool
A clock?
Thought it was a Glock.
People are genuinely very afraid and on high alert. It’s a sad reflection of that fear what happened in this case. Unfortunately muslims in general are under scrutiny but terrorists are hidden among us in all walks of society nowadays. People are extra vigilant and unfortunately have to be. Not a nice experience for this young man but it’s a case of being better safe than sorry.
are tried to make it not look like a threatening bomb by sticking a tie on it looks like he didn’t try hard enough
have your say