Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

851–860 of 994 posts

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

#851

Post by Macsenour »

When I was ten, 1971, I asked my father for a chemistry set for Christmas. My parents were divorced so when vacation was over, I had to return to living with my mother. This involved a short plane ride from SoCal to NorCal on PSA. I was traveling by myself.

I recall putting my bags on a table so they the airlines people could look at what I was taking on the plane. When the FLIGHT ATTENDANT looked at my chemistry set, she turned to another official and said: "He could make a bomb out of these chemicals", My first reaction was to laugh.

I waited a minute while the adults thought it over and said: "I'm 10, I don't know how to make a bomb or anything. I jusy got this for christmas!"

They taped it up and made me check it, so I could not carry it on to the plane. To this day I marvel at the idea that a child would be suspected of making a chemical bomb.

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

#852

Post by mc32 »

Making while brown, really? That's the best explosive phrase they could come up with?

Maybe it was stereotyping of one kind of another or maybe not. When Asians or whites are arrested under questionable judgement is it also appropriate to say making while while or Asian?

Dammit, there is an injustice here, but going inflammatory is not helpful. Who does the editing for tv? Are the awol?

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

#853

Post by rebootthesystem »

teraflop wrote: post #598
rebootthesystem wrote: post #395

> Ahmed was arrested for making while brown This line really bothers me. Probably because I simply don't think this way. I don't see color in people. It is because of this, perhaps wrongly, that I can't accept the idea that this kid was arrested because he is brown. I think a white kid would have been arrested just the same. Why? Because the problem, as I see it, is our schools, in some areas, are bastions of ignoran…

> This line really bothers me. Probably because I simply don't think this way. I don't see color in people. It is because of this, perhaps wrongly, that I can't accept the idea that this kid was arrested because he is brown. If you really "don't see color", then that's commendable. If you don't think it's possible that other people see color -- well, that's just willful ignorance. The rest of your comment is irreleva…

> If you don't think it's possible that other people see color -- well, that's just willful ignorance.

I didn't say that anywhere. Yes, of course, bigots do exist.

Perhaps the greater point is that we shouldn't jump at any conclusions, including one that proposes this kid was singled-out because of the color of his skin or his religion. Nobody knows, right?

I am proposing it was ignorance on the part of the teachers, particularly the Engineering teacher.

Had I been in that position I would have had the kid do a full presentation in front of the class on how he built the clock and how it worked and perhaps see about having him teach the other kids how to build their own in school or as a home project.

Had other teachers expressed concern I would have said something like "Calm down, he is a great kid who'd been tinkering with technology for years. We need to encourage him, not smash him down. He just build a fantastic clock. How about everyone learns from him.".

Then again, that's me. A non-engineer engineering teacher might think he is looking at Martian technology that could end life on the planet.

This kid should not have suffered one bit due to the ignorance of the adults that surrounded him at school.

Beyond that, I think about what he said in the video: They took him into a room with five cops who interrogated him. I, as a parent, would be angry beyond description for that alone.

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

#854

Post by elektromekatron »

eldude wrote: post #845
elektromekatron wrote: post #802

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"All my comment served to do, was concisely articulate the issue of the preceding contexts, which is self-evident when reworded to be less generic" I doubt you could concisely articulate anything if your preceding contexts depended upon it.

> I doubt you could concisely articulate anything if your preceding contexts depended upon it. Umm.... My "preceding contexts depended upon it"? First, as stated, the preceding contexts were not mine. Second, concisely articulating someone else's stance or summary, or a current context, while not easy, is trivially simple. Here's an example: Contents of Moby Dick => "A whale fishing allegory about the idolization of…

Contents of Moby Dick => Ahab's leg.

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

#855

Post by 01Michael10 »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #829
01Michael10 wrote: post #788

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you are not familiar with Irving's Mayor, Beth Van Duyne... Sorry to blow your theory right out of the water.

Are you saying the Mayor defines this area more than the numerous other demographics that show it is not simply a backwoods hillbilly town?

Yes... I believe the Mayor of Irving is an elected position by the people. It's a better indicator then being the 4th biggest metropolitan in the country like that matters.

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

#856

Post by biftek »

phonon wrote: post #793
hdctambien wrote: post #652

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my school district[0] teachers start at $43,500 and max out at $63,688 (after 30 years and a PhD) You can pick up some extra stipends if you coach or work in certian departments (STEM) but good luck getting into 6 digits as a Teacher. When I taught in Massachusetts (where we have a teacher union)[1] pay starts at $36,400 and maxes out at $74,000 (with a PhD) after 19 years. Turns out that public school salary info…

Well, you can easily look up NYC teacher salaries. They start at $50k and go up to $105k. http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/2712AB02-A1EF-4CE2-B879-... When you take into account the shorter work day/work year http://www.uft.org/new-teachers/your-work-day-and-year really good benefits, including a $50-$60k a year pension ( http://www.empirecenter.org/publications/pension-calculator/ ) and essentially tenure...well,…

lol if you think teachers have a "shorter work day/work year"

My girlfriend is a High School teacher in NY, and easily works more than I do. You have to factor in planning and grading which is all done after "work".

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

#857

Post by danjayh »

draugadrotten wrote: post #122
pavornyoh wrote: post #16

A picture of the clock in question would have been nice for inquiring minds to see..

Pic here: http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/09/1...

If you watch the video that pic was taken from, you will find that that is a device 'like' the one taken to the school. Here's an actual pic:

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/10BF6/production/...

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

#858

Post by maratd »

shkkmo wrote: post #748
maratd wrote: post #647

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we don't need University of Phoenix brought to elementary schools. I realize that from your perspective, the world if full of imbeciles ... but just for a second, consider that {insert for-profit college name} is providing a service that people want and that's why people are choosing it. Those people don't care how the money they are paying is divvied up afterward. Whether it goes into the pocket of some administra…

> but just for a second, consider that {insert for-profit college name} is providing a service that people want and that's why people are choosing it. Are you aware of how extremely predatory many of these for-profit colleges have been? Their students aren't getting something they want. I don't disagree with vouchers in general, but you can't just ignore the risks when using public funds to have private institution p…

> Are you aware of how extremely predatory many of these for-profit colleges have been? Their students aren't getting something they want.

I don't know what this statement means.

If you're suggesting that people attend these institutions and then aren't able to find work in that field, I would say that's true of many other institutions as well.

Those majoring in English in a standard non-profit college aren't likely to become authors or English teachers. Those going to law school aren't likely to become lawyers. So what?

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

#859

Post by pfooti »

dragonwriter wrote: post #847
pfooti wrote: post #790

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I'm not usually one to do credential comparisons and stuff, but I'm going to prefix this with: I got a Ph.D in science education over ten years ago from UC Berkeley, and have been working in and around the world of education, schools and schooling for that entire time. I happen to also do technology stuff, so in addition to being deeply engaged with this content, I develop software and hang aroun…

> Charters are just vouchers in disguise That depends; there are lots of different kinds of charters. Charters are public schools that have some exceptions -- enshrined in a particular charter, hence the name -- to the generally-applicable rules for public schools in the jurisdiction. These can be exception in terms of administrative process, specialty curriculum, alternate non-geographic admission criteria, etc. The…

True, I was being a little reductionist there. But I think that the charter school movement took off shortly after and directly because the voucher movement sunk. There's a lot of isomorphic economic policy between the two, although if I had to pick I'd say charters are better than vouchers.

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

#860

Post by danjayh »

draugadrotten wrote: post #64
zaphar wrote: post #50

In the article it mentions that his engineering teacher advised him to hide it from the other staff. Which is confusing to me. The teacher obviously knew it wasn't a bomb and obviously knew the other staff would misinterpret this. So why didn't the teacher preempt this whole thing by advising the school that "Yes, this kid brought in a clock to show me. No, it's not a bomb no matter how scary it looks."

It must be one hell of a clock if a teacher actually told the student to hide it from plain sight! EDIT: A picture of the actual device is here. http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/09/1... https://archive.is/Q0OLb

That is not a picture of the actual device. That's an example of something else he had laying around. Here's what he actually brought to school:

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/10BF6/production/...

Post reply on HN