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14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

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Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#501

Post by msandford »

baldfat wrote: post #474
msandford wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public schools also do plenty of dumb things. It's not as though charter schools have a lock on this. A lot of people want "vouchers" so that private schools are more affordable. And plenty of private schools have a good track record, while having similar per-pupil costs as public schools. If it costs $1000/student/month irrespective of if a child goes to a public school or a private school, why does the state really…

Charter Schools = They take 100% of the money from the public school and the money follows the student. > why does the state really care which one the child attends? Well I as a tax payer cares. If those school fare even worst and the administration and CEO/President of the foundations makes millions at the expense of children there is a concern. Public Schools work and have worked for decades. We have a problem with…

You're not making very coherent arguments. What's wrong with a voucher system whereby the PARENTS of the children being educated are the ones who determine which child the school goes to? Doesn't that make it very easy for the parents to shut bad schools down very quickly? It seems like that solves all the problems you're worried about, while also providing more choices to parents and students. What's the downside?

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#502

Post by leesalminen »

ZachWick wrote: post #475

This hits close to home for me too, and I am as WASP-y as it gets. Just over a year ago I was flying to the middle of US with some prototypes for an agriculural automation system in my checked luggage. Going through DTW and O'Hare to my final destination was fine and went without incident. On my way back, again with a checked luggage bag of protypes and tools, this little airport in northwest IA got evacauted and I w…

At the age of 14, I had to fly solo from LGA to ORD for my uncle's funeral. I had a one-way ticket purchased 18 hours before the flight.

We all assumed that because of my age and appearance it wouldn't be suspicious.

Wrong! I was stopped and questioned for an hour before being allowed to board.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#503

Post by genghisjahn »

kdamken wrote: post #473
twoodfin wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the teacher level, they are underpaid. My girlfriend is a high school teacher w/ 4 years experience, a masters degree in her topic, and works 12+ hours a day (not kidding, seriously all day). She makes $35k / year. How much do teachers in her school system who have 25 years experience make? The union-mandated tenure system, which prevents young, talented teachers from making even vaguely competitive salaries, but…

This - I know teachers with 25 years experience making close to six figures, which seems fairly insane.

Why shouldn't a teacher with 25 years experience not make six figures, or close to it?

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#504

Post by jimktrains2 »

troels wrote: post #85

Is it legal to search and interrogate a juvenile, without the parents present, in Texas?

In most states children in a school have little to no rights as the school is assuming responsibility for the welfare of the children.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#505

Post by mikeash »

balls187 wrote: post #496
mikeash wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The suspension is pretty minor. Dumb, but whatever. At that age I'd have been happy to stay home for three days. But there's so much more here. He got arrested and put in juvenile detention . He was interrogated by the police without his parents being informed. There's no excuse for this. The police involved should lose their jobs and spend some time in jail themselves. Not a lot, but perhaps a couple of days will ge…

> He got arrested and put in juvenile detention. He was interrogated by the police without his parents being informed. This behavior happens ALL THE TIME. The police routinely will get away with what ever they can to get a conviction. The law is complicated and most people don't have a lawyer on retainer. The police aren't your friend, and you gain NOTHING by talking to them.

I wonder at what age a parent should have The Talk about shutting up and asking for a lawyer.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#506

Post by zardo »

electic wrote: post #486

Frankly, if someone showed up with a clock and a circuit board with wires leading to a box on the board, what would people think? Keep in mind, there have been multiple mass shootings at schools already this year. They have to investigate it. What if someone showed up to the mall with a gun in an open-carry setting? People panic.[2] The setting matters. Especially if the setting in question, a school, has been a vict…

Frankly, if someone showed up with a clock and a circuit board with wires leading to a box on the board, what would people think?

I don't think we should assume that everything we don't understand is a weapon. I don't understand a lot of things, the vast majority of which are not bombs.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#507

Post by dragonwriter »

msandford wrote: post #423
baldfat wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Attach a specific dollar amount to a student. Allow that student to go to whichever school they want. End of story. Allow it to go where there is little to no public over sight, no public school board or checks and balances, under performing scores, teachers paid $20,000 less with no pension, and CEOs making millions. Charter Schools are a part of the problem with American education. Sure some Charter Schools are g…

Public schools also do plenty of dumb things. It's not as though charter schools have a lock on this. A lot of people want "vouchers" so that private schools are more affordable. And plenty of private schools have a good track record, while having similar per-pupil costs as public schools. If it costs $1000/student/month irrespective of if a child goes to a public school or a private school, why does the state really…

> If it costs $1000/student/month irrespective of if a child goes to a public school or a private school, why does the state really care which one the child attends?

Because it doesn't cost a flat amount per student. The fact that funding is fixed per student doesn't mean that all students are equally costly to educate, and private schools that don't have a universal acceptance mandate impose selection criteria which tend to select for students which are less expensive to serve, increasing the per-student costs (but not funding!) in the public schools if public funds are used on an equal per-student basis to support students going to those private schools.

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#508

Post by davidw »

marcinx27 wrote: post #47
austenallred wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair it's a middle school, and most people don't really know what a circuit board is for. I don't think it's outrageous that they asked . It should have never, however, escalated as far as it did. You're going to handcuff a kid who is cooperating and trying to explain what this thing he built is? Give me a break. But worse still they're still not backing down. It's suspension of all logic and reasoning. They sh…

Nah, it's a high school. And the reaction really wasn't warranted. He did show it to his engineering teacher before he got nabbed, too. According to the Times, "When Ahmed Mohamed, 14, brought the clock to MacArthur High School in Irving, Tex., on Monday, an engineering teacher suggested that he not show the invention to other teachers. But it beeped during an English class, prompting Ahmed to show his English teache…

> an engineering teacher suggested that he not show the invention to other teachers. But it beeped during an English class, prompting Ahmed to show his English teacher what it was

Ok, I can't help but be reminded of my recent comments about English classes in high school.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10205670

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10204756

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#509

Post by nailer »

nadams wrote: post #121

If anyone is actually surprised by the administrations intelligence - I should remind you of 3 events: - A teacher confiscates Linux CDs claiming that the student was essentially distributing illegal copyrighted software - because no software is free [1] - A system administrator was fired for installing/running seti@home on school computers. There is a lot of controversy about this case - but I read one news article…

Another boy makes gun gesture with hand, gets suspended:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/04/us/ohio-boy-suspended-fing...

Re: 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

#510

Post by MiguelHudnandez »

masteryupa_ wrote: post #341
mattkevan wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a variant of Clarke's third law which applies here: "Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice."

@mattkevan could you provide a citation for this? A quick search nets Arthur C. Clarke's three laws, with the third reading: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - 1973, Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws

No citation is necessary, they're just quoting a clever anonymous adaptation. It's not anything Arthur C. Clarke ever said.
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