Don't take you electronic creations to school.
Heater.
Posts: 21,230
Story says it all:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallas-county/headlines/20150915-irving-9th-grader-arrested-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school-so-you-tried-to-make-a-bomb.ece
I do believe the world has gone insane.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallas-county/headlines/20150915-irving-9th-grader-arrested-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school-so-you-tried-to-make-a-bomb.ece
I do believe the world has gone insane.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Now, it is certainly possible that this incident was biased by racial prejudice. But, for the sake of this conversation, let's assume that it's not. Let's assume that this was the result of ignorant adults who think that a bunch of circuits in a box looks the same as a "movie bomb" despite no indication by the child that it was anything other than a clock.
The question is: how do you provide a safe environment for the next generation of makers/hackers/inventors to be able to experiment and create without an ever-present fear that you could be arrested for suspicion making a bomb?
(note: this is not an academic question for me. I have two daughters that I encourage to make, hack, etc. Articles like the one above seriously concern me.)
Yes, the world is getting pretty paranoid.
But this is a school, with teachers. Teachers are supposed to be educated to some degree (There is a pun in there somewhere). This kind of event demonstrates that they are totally ignorant and quite possibly stupid. How on earth can we be be giving responsibility for educating our children to such people.
Then there is the actions of the police...
This story struck a chord with me as I built a digital clock with TTL chips, Nixie tubes and my own hand etched PCB back in 1973. At a time when nobody had a digital clock it was a hit and got showed off on an open day.
Bomb squad and the whole 9.
I always knew there would be trouble when they started letting all the basket weaving liberal arts students overflow in to our Engineering buildings due to construction on one of their buildings.
We live in a post columbine world, and people are getting dumber.
They say the building was evacuated, the neighboring school was locked down, and each member of the team present got a good long talk with several of our big brother acronyms. The professor's story was essentially the same. I wanted to think they'd made it up.
An Estes Rocket. Come on.
Fair enough.
There has to be a way to let our kids (and adults) freely and safely do this sort of thing...
And yes some schools over react. The problem here is that a cop that the lad clearly does not know, if by face only said something to the effect that, "He's the one.".
That's straight out of a certain series of mysteries originally written by a chap from the Boston area.
I will grant all of you, especially those of us with school age children who are being taught by all of you regarding your hobby that the big problem is that the schools don't understand the current ideas behind the Maker and the Hacker (in the original sense) and some do. Sadly in NYC they are finally catching up after 50 years of ignoring the obvious.
And erco, and you yourself Seairth, by name, I'm not selecting you both for a heckling, no I'not, I'm offering compliments instead.
So I support that chap in the Texas area's efforts, and somehow want to help him.
And read the blog article in Hack A Day about it. The 90 odd comments are quite enlightening.
At his age I was doing that, and where I went to school, was as pigheaded and worse stupid about it. They got over it, sadly, but not any better.
Nope..... Springfield, Oregon doesn't have a nuclear reactor. The state of Oregon is a nuclear free state.
Over-reacting seems to becoming 'the American way', but the truth is that people all over the world have been doing it for ages. Instant media seems to be making us all a bit edgy.
Which seems to fit this story quite well.
I'm split 50/50 on this one. Call me 50% paranoid
"Paranoid is one thing. ... But this is a school, with teachers. Teachers are supposed to be educated to some degree"
Just remember that the books used in school are a collaboration of many different opinions purchased in many cases by the lowest bidder ... <-- That right there should be the First red flag .... The Second flag is that the person doing the purchasing probably has little to no knowledge of the book contents. .... and the Third? ... Imagine being on the board of education committee deciding the material content. You can't tell me there aren't any sleepers in the room that are the key decision makers that would just rather call it a day and go home.
Notice all of the really STUPID commercials? ... like it or not they are a reflection of the sad state of today's education and/or the result of what happens when you legalize certain drugs. <-- Referring to Math and Science, show me where a solid foundation of the fundamentals you and I apply fit into this game plan?
Actually the creators of the show never did say where they live. I always thought it was in MA or even Ill. But anyplace will do.
Actually I can't recall either, but yes that town is based on the fact that the IQ of everyone except Homer is below the national average, excluding politicians.
Factor in all the school shootings and threats schools get from nut case students and Zero Tolerance policies and you get this.
20 years earlier the kid would have earned serious kudos for his efforts.
On the bright side, he's now a celebrity and got invited to the White House to meet the President.
And I am still upset that my Kindergarten teacher Miss Green broke my heart by getting married and quitting.
According to all accounts (that I have read), the child never once claimed it was anything other than a clock. I would certainly understand an adult being concerned when encountering something unfamiliar and potentially dangerous (it's our job, when it comes to children). But, as an adult, it's also our job to model appropriate behavior for those same children. In this case, the adult either has the knowledge to determine whether the device was dangerous or the adult should get another adult that does have the knowledge. Once the adult(s) determine that the clock was, in fact, a clock (or otherwise benign), then that's it. You do not grill the child, suspend him from school, or make threats that the child may be charged with a crime.
And, before anyone points out that they may not have had someone knowledgeable enough to evaluate the child's clock, I will point out that the school did not evacuate or do any other action that would be expected for a bomb threat. They (administration, police, etc.) were obviously confident that this clock was not dangerous. And yet, they felt it was necessary to treat this child like it was (or could have been). Of course, they (teachers, principal, police) had every incentive to do so (portraying a sense of proactive security and safety) and no disincentive to take a more measured approach (little-to-no accountability for overreacting). If any of the adults involved could have been reprimanded (or, even more severely, lost their job or position), I suspect that this would have ended up being treated like the non-issue that it should have been treated like.
-Phil
I completely agree it wasn't handled well. I still can't imagine someone constructing that and assuming nobody would have a problem with it. Maybe it's because I don't have kids.
Had they really thought it was a bomb they would have immediately stepped away from it and evacuated the school. They did not. It's all very weird.
This kid has an invitation to the White House.
Mutual respect for each other is far more important than technology. Just because I understand something, I don't expect others to understand it. This brings me right back to the current drone situation. It's the same in a lot of ways. One group of people who don't know, are being forced into finding out, not understanding. You have to introduce them to it. The better the introduction, the more people are willing to understand.
Here let me throw this in your face, then explain it. = Bad reaction.
Don't know about this? Let's setup a time to talk about it. = Good reaction.
Maybe that is what we should be teaching kids.
Would love to see Ken and company add to this effort; Parallax embodies fantastic education.
@xanadu It's not clear to me this was thrown in any ones face. As far as I understand Ahmed was following his teachers advice and keeping the thing to himself. No body would have known if it had not started beeping in class.
Anyway, life is full of surprises. Now Ahmed is world wide famous with thousands of followers and has got an audience with the president.
May be "in your face" is what the world needs from time to time.