Irving 9th-grader arrested after taking homemade clock to school: 'So you tried to make a bomb?'

a reply to: Leonidas

This sort of racist response to a keen young kid is depressing.

The racist response we should concern ourselves with is that from our dear leader.

Honestly do any of you feel that his reaction to colored problems is acceptable.

Sure I can see the value in standing up for people like his son Treyvon and others but when he publicly goes out of his way to give invites and single out people simply based on skin color alone we can all be 100% correct in stating that he is a proven racist. I bring this up in hopes that many of you may have a different pov that makes sense.

a reply to: deadeyedick

If you think Race had nothing to do with this, you are not being honest with yourself. I am sure you know what the response from the school would have been had he been a pretty blonde Christian girl rather than a brown boy named Ahmed Mohamed.

originally posted by: Leonidas
a reply to: deadeyedick

If you think Race had nothing to do with this, you are not being honest with yourself. I am sure you know what the response from the school would have been had he been a pretty blonde Christian girl rather than a brown boy named Ahmed Mohamed.

Exactly.

"Deny Ignorance" should not be "Denial of Ignorance". Sadly there are a lot of people who for whatever reason want to deny ignorance exists rather than addressing the ignorance itself.

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: neo96

So you've never made a clock for a school project? From what I hear it's pretty common.

I love that you assume he knew he would get in trouble because only true rebels sport NASA t shirts to high school.

Silly me thought the kid was some kind of 'genius'.

a reply to: neo96

Silly you indeed. The kid is a kid.

a reply to: TinySickTears

You will probably just end up with a headache!

Its a kid who built a basic electronic device, and from the looks of it.. not particularly well. Which, to be fair, that alone probably sets him above 99% of the population. Then, he ran into a some 'adults' who overreacted.

The result?

Prizes galore, publicity galore, and if he plays it right.. him and his family wont have to work again!

I'd love to see it shed light on how intelligence is approached in our cultural story, as well as our education system. But, it seems 'this' is how we handle these problems. Its probably asking too much to look at it beyond a single incident.

originally posted by: imitator

originally posted by: Leonidas
a reply to: imitator

If that frightens you, may I suggest you avoid going into a Radio Shack at all costs.

No need to worry most Radio Shacks are out of business....
and by the way it's obvious the kid didn't use Radio Shack!

So?

It's a KID. With an electronics project.

He was probably trying to make a home made version of these:




Electronics kits often come in a fold out suitcase.

Look in the toys and games section on Amazon...

www.amazon.com...

originally posted by: JadeStar

originally posted by: Leonidas
a reply to: deadeyedick

If you think Race had nothing to do with this, you are not being honest with yourself. I am sure you know what the response from the school would have been had he been a pretty blonde Christian girl rather than a brown boy named Ahmed Mohamed.

Exactly.

"Deny Ignorance" should not be "Denial of Ignorance". Sadly there are a lot of people who for whatever reason want to deny ignorance exists rather than addressing the ignorance itself.

Jade be honest, schools over react to drawings of guns, do you think this would be any different. In class , something starts beeping. Teachers see this. The over reaction is the environment that was a pushed into schools. It's to be expected.

Again wouldn't expect any other reaction from the teachers. Cops...different story, but I think a policy is in place we are not aware of or something happened we haven't heard. The over reaction in schools is nuts, but considering others things over reacted to, anyone really think this would be different? Zero tolerance type policies have basically taken any judgement from teachers on these things, it's over react and go, no buts.

originally posted by: Leonidas
a reply to: deadeyedick

If you think Race had nothing to do with this, you are not being honest with yourself. I am sure you know what the response from the school would have been had he been a pretty blonde Christian girl rather than a brown boy named Ahmed Mohamed.

I think the beeping suitcase bomb is the reason this happened. Now if I learn that this was a school sponsored project then yes other factors may be in play. If you show me that other kids had bombs at school that day and he was singled out for his then we can say it was a race issue.

On the other hand I can absolutely dig up cases of white boy's being arrested in school that same day but none have been singled out by the racist in chief. the only time the pres singles out kids this age they are all darker skinned.

originally posted by: JadeStar

originally posted by: Leonidas
a reply to: deadeyedick

If you think Race had nothing to do with this, you are not being honest with yourself. I am sure you know what the response from the school would have been had he been a pretty blonde Christian girl rather than a brown boy named Ahmed Mohamed.

Exactly.

"Deny Ignorance" should not be "Denial of Ignorance". Sadly there are a lot of people who for whatever reason want to deny ignorance exists rather than addressing the ignorance itself.

I agree it is ignorant to bring beeping cases that resemble bombs to school and pretend that the culture you alighn your religious beliefs with are not using similar devices to commit jihAD ON OTHERS while killing many. Sure the kid should get a break but the parents know better.

touchy feely responses in leiu of denying ignorance is sad

we are at a point where bad parenting and stupid decisions gets one national honor from a racist president and a full scholarship to universities
Honestly what message is being sent to the next kid with dark skin?

originally posted by: deadeyedick

originally posted by: Leonidas
a reply to: deadeyedick

If you think Race had nothing to do with this, you are not being honest with yourself. I am sure you know what the response from the school would have been had he been a pretty blonde Christian girl rather than a brown boy named Ahmed Mohamed.

I think the beeping suitcase bomb is the reason this happened. Now if I learn that this was a school sponsored project then yes other factors may be in play. If you show me that other kids had bombs at school that day and he was singled out for his then we can say it was a race issue.

On the other hand I can absolutely dig up cases of white boy's being arrested in school that same day but none have been singled out by the racist in chief. the only time the pres singles out kids this age they are all darker skinned.

Maybe it's not a racist in chief issue. Maybe the reason Obama has never spoken up for the kids who get an over reaction to gun drawings is he is anti future artist but pro future scientist?

Maybe anti artist in chief???????

Again, WHY was he told to put it away and NOT show anyone else by the teacher? No one sees this as 'odd''?

originally posted by: matafuchs
Again, WHY was he told to put it away and NOT show anyone else by the teacher? No one sees this as 'odd''?

not odd at all if the teacher knew it was just a clock but that it resembled a bomb

originally posted by: deadeyedick

originally posted by: matafuchs
Again, WHY was he told to put it away and NOT show anyone else by the teacher? No one sees this as 'odd''?

not odd at all if the teacher knew it was just a clock but that it resembled a bomb

I would have thought the teacher would have explained the potential issue and done more. Not surprised though.

originally posted by: deadeyedick

originally posted by: matafuchs
Again, WHY was he told to put it away and NOT show anyone else by the teacher? No one sees this as 'odd''?

not odd at all if the teacher knew it was just a clock but that it resembled a bomb

Then why call the cops and take the kid away in handcuffs if they knew it was just a clock?

If the cops thought it was a bomb; why didn't they call the bomb squad or at least an expert in explosives?

We both know the reason don't we?

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: deadeyedick

originally posted by: matafuchs
Again, WHY was he told to put it away and NOT show anyone else by the teacher? No one sees this as 'odd''?

not odd at all if the teacher knew it was just a clock but that it resembled a bomb

Then why call the cops and take the kid away in handcuffs if they knew it was just a clock?

I think the teacher who knew was his 1st period teacher, not the same teacher who called the cops as I believe it happened after the first class

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: deadeyedick

originally posted by: matafuchs
Again, WHY was he told to put it away and NOT show anyone else by the teacher? No one sees this as 'odd''?

not odd at all if the teacher knew it was just a clock but that it resembled a bomb

Then why call the cops and take the kid away in handcuffs if they knew it was just a clock?

I can only speculate

perhaps other parties became involved and they had different reactions that included the fact that it was not a school sponsored project

When one yells bomb then one can expect a response

when one carries something that resembles a bomb then one is deferring ones future to be decided by others and submits to the prevailing wisdom of those in charge that have shown time and time again to not be worthy of such decisions

It leaves everyone to answer the question of intent themselves and respond according to their feelings on the subject

originally posted by: desert
Making a digital clock is one of the required projects for students in my local high school's electronics class. What the hell is the matter with that Texas school? They need to evolve!

I'm not sure that picture is of the actual device in question. That circuit board looks like a USB hub. I do not see any dedicated output devices, in the form of LCD or LED MAN-7 or MAN3a or the 8x8 matrix units or panel style display. The unit could be an experimenter's board but it certainly has an oscillator and a quad pak IC that could be a processor though I believe it to be a USB controller. It does not appear to have any HDMI output so I don't think it was to connect to a display panel/tv monitor either.

It would be a shame if he didn't even get to demonstrate his project.

I went to vocational high school in MA about 30 years ago and then became an electronic engineer and now I write software when I am not building robots and stuff. I was that kid 40 yrs ago, bringing home-built electronics to school and my teachers were always fascinated as well as bewildered but never once did I get disciplined for it. Oh yeah, I am Caucasian and that may have some bearing on it but more than likely times were just that much different then. I hope that if this kid can run the project and clear his name that they wipe clean his suspension and anything else that may stymie his future.

ETA: I have seen other folks put a picture of the display unit up there, so I guess it could be a USB interface to a standalone clock module.
We can probably disregard the first part of this post then.

a reply to: JadeStar

So.... you are taking my words out of context? The point being, the kid didn't use radio shack parts on his project.... as the previous poster said I should fear Radio Shack lol.....

Jadestar have you ever heard of a suitcase bomb.... I mean really you have to be delusional to think he was making an electronic kit. That is funny.

Yeah an electronic kit can be made into a bomb, but that's not it, he created a look alike suitcase bomb. Hell you can buy look alike bombs on ebay, but you sure the hell cannot bring them to school.

A 14 year old electronic hobbyist probably knows what a suit case bomb looks like. My bet his parents set him up so they can win some money in a lawsuit.... But it backfired on them, maybe his Dad told him to say "it's a clock".... either that or they're real terrorist.

This kid is obviously intelligent, and I think he got the response he wanted.