Discussion for article #240641
Yeah…that first sentence? Problematic.
It wasn’t a “hoax device”. It was a homemade clock - it was stated to be a homemade clock from the beginning. Don’t add to the foolishness around this event, please.
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the outcome of this ridiculous story couldn’t be better… the kid gets invites from the white house, mit, harvard, facebook; nasa wants to give him a tour…
besides, he’s so freaking adorable – and epitomizes the teenage nerd… the glasses, the haircut, the lanky frame … but best of all is the NASA t-shirt he was wearing when he was handcuffed and taken in for questioning. he was just missing braces… lol
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If there ever was a legitimate use of GoFundMe, I think an Ahmed Mohamed college fund would be it.
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He’s already been offered an internship at a couple of places, and I suspect at least one of those companies will drop some cash into his college fund.
He got an invite to MIT; something tells me they wouldn’t do that unless they had some idea about offering at least partial scholarship.
The ones I am angriest at over this are his teacher and principal. Ignorance personified. Although I have plenty of disdain for the cops in this case too (who I understand from reading last night may also have violated his 5th and 6th Amendment rights by interrogating him before AND after he requested to speak to his parents…they said no)
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to the idiot Police Chief of Irving TX : YES you DO bring a clock to school that you assembled yourself… what the hell do you think a kid does in school?
study the bible and accept creationism as science?
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Remember when kids were ENCOURAGED to bring things for show & tell?
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But that quote was the pretext for the police action. It truly was their mistake, not his intent, which they finally had to acknowledge when they released him.
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I’m glad his parents want to transfer him out of that school.
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Okay, Ahmed. You’ve had an exciting week working on your social studies project. Now get back to your algebra and and ELA homework. MIT will still want to see the grades! 
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I wish he never had to learn this lesson. But I’m pleasantly surprised that it ended up the way it has.
I may have to rethink my feelings about Twitter…
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Here’s the real takeaway line, from the Dallas Morning News:
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.”
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Lookie, here. This young feller could have avoided all the hassle if he’d just accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Problem SOLVED!
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Superman is spot on!
A white kid in the UK just received accolades for building a nuclear fusion reactor…with the full help and support of his school, of course. But watch out for those wily clocks from students of color and different ethnic backgrounds!
Source: http://www.cnet.com/news/13-year-old-builds-working-nuclear-fusion-reactor/
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It makes me a bit sad, even though I’d transfer my kid out, probably. Ideally, this would be a teachable moment for the school, and they as a group would confront the racism and Islamophobia laid bare by the incident. But the kid’s departure makes it easier to go back to business as usual, I’d think.
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I’m super happy for this kid receiving all of this support from influential people. However, the last I heard, he was still suspended from school - for bringing the clock - and his teacher and principle had yet to apologize. Can anybody confirm or update this?
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Maybe we should fund a campaign to put pictures on milk cartons “Have you seen the US’ balls? Missing since 9/12/2001. Please call 1-800-COWARDS if you have information.”
Seriously - in the late 50s I had all three legs of the WMD triangle - Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear. In other words, my parents had got me a Junior Scientist kit subscription. I took a freaking homemade Geiger counter in to class at my elementary school, along with a little spec of Thorium in a lead jar! Can you IMAGINE the freakout that would cause today, even with my pale default skin color! (Although this was back in the Hawaiian Islands, so I was probably only a bit paler than Ahmed at the time.)
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That was one of my initial thoughts, too. What kind of a “teacher” doesn’t have a rapport with their students to know that this is an O.K. kid with a great mind?
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