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Kiera Wilmot is going to Space Camp

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Re: Kiera Wilmot is going to Space Camp

#21

Post by ledge »

nsxwolf wrote: post #11

I'm glad the charges were dropped. No one was hurt and that fact needs to be considered before ruining a kid's life. But in all likelihood she built a Drano bomb, probably after watching one of the millions of YouTube videos on the subject, and blew it up on school property. She's not a martyr for science, nor a role model for girls in STEM, and frankly it is a little offensive that's the line people are sticking wit…

I think it's the potential for harm that makes her punishment somewhat justified. Not unlike charging someone for driving drunk, when they haven't actually run anyone over yet.

I knew a guy in high school that got expelled in the middle of his senior year, because cops turned up an airsoft gun in the trunk of his car after they brought drug dogs through our school parking lot (this was done routinely, inside the school and also in the parking lot, probably still is). That to me is a much worse example of how far these "zero-tolerance" polices get taken.

Re: Kiera Wilmot is going to Space Camp

#23

Post by marssaxman »

munchbunny wrote: post #20
logical42 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but for chrissakes she's just a kid.

Kids will do stupid things, but you have to instruct them on not doing stupid things, which is going to include negative consequences for doing stupid things. That's part of growing up.

An appropriate negative consequence for this particular stupid thing might have been, for example, a stern admonishment not to do that again, with some explanation of the protocols involved in getting permission for such an experiment.

Felony charges are ludicrous, a mindless reaction.

Re: Kiera Wilmot is going to Space Camp

#24

Post by JoeKM »

munchbunny wrote: post #20
logical42 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but for chrissakes she's just a kid.

Kids will do stupid things, but you have to instruct them on not doing stupid things, which is going to include negative consequences for doing stupid things. That's part of growing up.

Except in my day it was detention and a call to your parents. Today it's expulsion and felony charges? Sorry, that's not part of growing up. That's ruining the rest of your life for a stupid mistake (that caused no one harm).

Re: Kiera Wilmot is going to Space Camp

#25

Post by ejreynolds »

smky80 wrote: post #17
homosaur wrote: post #4

That's nice of Space Camp to reach out to her like that. I don't know if Kiera Wilmot is going to be the next brilliant scientist or not but I do know she seemed like a bright, interested student who was unfairly targeted by our schools' protofascist zero tolerance policies. I could imagine it would put a distaste for involvement in science in your mouth if you were persecuted for what's an obvious nothing story, so…

I did Space Camp a couple years after the movie came out. I'm still mad about getting stuck with being the Public Relations Officer in Ground Control on the shuttle mission at the end.

I went with my cousin about 10 years ago. I was a Mission Specialist and got to do the EVA. He was stuck in ground control. It was a tense plane ride home :-)

Re: Kiera Wilmot is going to Space Camp

#26

Post by adamdavis »

marssaxman wrote: post #23
munchbunny wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids will do stupid things, but you have to instruct them on not doing stupid things, which is going to include negative consequences for doing stupid things. That's part of growing up.

An appropriate negative consequence for this particular stupid thing might have been, for example, a stern admonishment not to do that again, with some explanation of the protocols involved in getting permission for such an experiment. Felony charges are ludicrous, a mindless reaction.

So a question, do scientists not make a distinction between blowing things up for fun and blowing things up for an organized scientific experiment?

I understand that blowing things up and having fun can be part of a scientific experiment, but that doesn't mean any time that someone makes an explosion that they're participating in a scientific experiment, unless we're using a very loose definition of the word.

Re: Kiera Wilmot is going to Space Camp

#28

Post by rz2k »

maaku wrote: post #18
nsxwolf wrote: post #11

I'm glad the charges were dropped. No one was hurt and that fact needs to be considered before ruining a kid's life. But in all likelihood she built a Drano bomb, probably after watching one of the millions of YouTube videos on the subject, and blew it up on school property. She's not a martyr for science, nor a role model for girls in STEM, and frankly it is a little offensive that's the line people are sticking wit…

Charges weren't exactly dropped. She plead guilty in order to get into a diversion program and have her record sealed.

I kind of wonder why having her record sealed would matter at all. I suppose it helps keep her off of inconvenient watch lists, but the extensive coverage has almost made her a public figure.

Re: Kiera Wilmot is going to Space Camp

#29

Post by kstenerud »

peteretep wrote: post #14

What kind of example does this set? Now we're encouraging more kids to blow stuff up at school, great!

If only we really were... Blowing up stuff is one of the best introductions to science a kid can get!

If a kid today were to do now what I did as a kid, they'd have a criminal record a mile long, destined to be nothing more than a drain on society since they'd be permanently branded and unemployable in most places. That's not a good way to build up your future economy and industry, not to mention international competitiveness!

Punishing a child by permanently destroying their hopes and dreams shows some badly misplaced priorities.

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