high schooler arrested for bringing a clock "bomb" to school

[Luck]

yeah, & its not like clocks being put into suit cases haven't happened before either.
oh wait...

Spoiler:

For one, that's an analog clock, which isn't really associated with makeshift bombs unlike digital alarms. For another, a gimmicky thing like that sticks out like a sore thumb. Lastly, everything has to be taken into context; just because these exist doesn't mean there's no cause for concern. These inventions are clearly exceptions to the standard.

Spoiler:

I don't know why you'd use Tea Party propaganda of all things to help your case.

Spoiler:

odd suspicious crap placed in suitcases that no one bats an eye.

This is why I mentioned context. That's a solar energy suitcase, which is clearly exposed and designed to be noticed, and is most likely on display on an alternative energy convention. There's a world of difference between that and a beeping digital alarm pencil case in a school setting.

why should the police have even been called? they have a teacher who specializes in this stuff

Because he constantly took it out during class, and the proper authorities should be notified when a suspicious object appears, even if there likely isn't a situation. Even if you tell everyone "it's just a pencil case", that doesn't mean it'll stop garnering attention - especially from people that don't know you.

 

[gimmepie]

Because he constantly took it out during class, and the proper authorities should be notified when a suspicious object appears, even if there likely isn't a situation. Even if you tell everyone "it's just a pencil case", that doesn't mean it'll stop garnering attention - especially from people that don't know you.

I would assume, on account of it being a school setting as you keep mentioning, that the people in his class probably did know him. At a wild guess, I'd say a fairly large portion of the student body at least knew his name or knew him by sight.

It's not like he just randomly showed up at school with this thing one day, it was probably well-documented that he had a gift for/interest in electronics. Hence, the engineering teacher knew him and knew that it was a clock. It's all well and good to talk about context but we shouldn't be inventing our own.

 

[Luck]

I would assume, on account of it being a school setting as you keep mentioning, that the people in his class probably did know him. At a wild guess, I'd say a fairly large portion of the student body at least knew his name or knew him by sight.

It's not like he just randomly showed up at school with this thing one day, it was probably well-documented that he had a gift for/interest in electronics.

Just because you recognize someone's face and name doesn't mean you know them. Maybe you were the socialite in high school that knew everyone that you had classes with, but most people have a small circle of friends if not less, which is the impression that I got from seeing his interviews.

Hence, the engineering teacher knew him and knew that it was a clock. It's all well and good to talk about context but we shouldn't be inventing our own.

He also said that his teacher suggested not showing it to other teachers, and he said himself that he wrapped a small cord around it so that it wouldn't look suspicious. He's not an idiot, he knew that other people would get the wrong impression if they saw that item.

 

[shadowmoon522]

I would assume, on account of it being a school setting as you keep mentioning, that the people in his class probably did know him. At a wild guess, I'd say a fairly large portion of the student body at least knew his name or knew him by sight.

It's not like he just randomly showed up at school with this thing one day, it was probably well-documented that he had a gift for/interest in electronics. Hence, the engineering teacher knew him and knew that it was a clock. It's all well and good to talk about context but we shouldn't be inventing our own.

not only this, but it was still a suitcase. he probably had homework & such in it.

This is why I mentioned context. That's a solar energy suitcase, which is clearly exposed and designed to be noticed, and is most likely on display on an alternative energy convention. There's a world of difference between that and a beeping digital alarm pencil case in a school setting.

the word here is context, the only reason he didn't put it on full display was cause one of the teachers told him not to.
a school is a place to learn, not a place to be safe or dilude yourself into thinking your kid is safe there. schools are a cesspool for diseases after all, fights & bulling will always occur & kids don't learn without experience. the teacher's decided to panic & teach fear.
the fear of the teachers gets pasted on to the kids, then their parents & before you know it we have even more irrational fear. 9/11 started up this type of fear & stuff like this just doesn't help it any.
the context involved was crafted out of fear, not logic or caution.
this is about as bad as that autistic kid getting arrested & placed in a straight jacked
if they can't handle a situation which obviously has no real danger & that they are fully aware of such to the point where if it was a bomb they'd be dead by now because of how they handled it.
they should have just pulled the kid to the side & gave it to him straight and confiscated the suitcase.
nope, they took it out of proportion then spewed a few lies to the media to cover up their mistakes and try to justify it.
its a clock, to the eyes of a normal human it is a clock, to the eyes of those afraid its far from what it really is.

 

[Luck]

not only this, but it was still a suitcase. he probably had homework & such in it.

Suitcase? lmao. You know absolutely nothing about the case but you speak so confidently. It was a PENCIL CASE with the guts of a digital alarm stuffed inside it, it was NOT a suitcase. I'd strongly suggest researching both sides before deciding on your position next time.

the word here is context, the only reason he didn't put it on full display was cause one of the teachers told him not to.

Why would his alarm clock go off in the middle of English class then? Setting an alarm isn't something that accidentally happens, it's something you have to go out of your way to actively do.

a school is a place to learn, not a place to be safe or dilude yourself into thinking your kid is safe there. schools are a cesspool for diseases after all, fights & bulling will always occur & kids don't learn without experience. the teacher's decided to panic & teach fear.
the fear of the teachers gets pasted on to the kids, then their parents & before you know it we have even more irrational fear. 9/11 started up this type of fear & stuff like this just doesn't help it any.

This just sounds like pointless rambling to me. Could you explain how this relates to the story at hand?

the context involved was crafted out of fear, not logic or caution.

If it was baseless fear, then they would've evacuated the school and called the bomb squad.

if they can't handle a situation which obviously has no real danger & that they are fully aware of such to the point where if it was a bomb they'd be dead by now because of how they handled it.

If it was a situation where there was obviously no danger, why would you even mention the idea that it might have been a real bomb? I'm not understanding, are you trying to argue that they shouldn't have interrogated him at all, or that they should've used more extreme measures?

they should have just pulled the kid to the side & gave it to him straight and confiscated the suitcase.

And that's essentially what they did. They took him off to the side after he exposed his "clock" 6th period or so, arrested and interrogated him, and released him with no charges because they got everything they needed.

nope, they took it out of proportion then spewed a few lies to the media to cover up their mistakes and try to justify it.

What were the lies that the officers told to the media? His family is the one that's blocking the police department from releasing the official police report.

its a clock, to the eyes of a normal human it is a clock, to the eyes of those afraid its far from what it really is.

lol no. I can understand if you wouldn't think it's a bomb, but clocks aren't fashioned out of everyday objects.

 

[Evening]

It's stupidity at its worst alright.

 

[gimmepie]

Just because you recognize someone's face and name doesn't mean you know them. Maybe you were the socialite in high school that knew everyone that you had classes with, but most people have a small circle of friends if not less, which is the impression that I got from seeing his interviews.

I was about as much of a socialite then as I am now. That is to say, I had a small to moderate circle of friends that I didn't really stray from socially. I went to one of the largest high schools in my state and could still give you the general gist of the sort of things the majority of my year-level were into. It's really not that hard and people with unusual talents and hobbies are the easiest to remember.

He also said that his teacher suggested not showing it to other teachers, and he said himself that he wrapped a small cord around it so that it wouldn't look suspicious. He's not an idiot, he knew that other people would get the wrong impression if they saw that item.

You're right. But the point here is that the reason they got the wrong impression is because of his ethnicity/religion.

 

[Luck]

I was about as much of a socialite then as I am now. That is to say, I had a small to moderate circle of friends that I didn't really stray from socially. I went to one of the largest high schools in my state and could still give you the general gist of the sort of things the majority of my year-level were into. It's really not that hard and people with unusual talents and hobbies are the easiest to remember.

Knowing the general gist doesn't mean you actually know the person to any significant degree either. I think you're greatly underestimating how much you have to interact with a person to be able to accurately determine if they're capable of committing something like this.

You're right. But the point here is that the reason they got the wrong impression is because of his ethnicity/religion.

Or maybe they got the wrong impression because most people aren't used to seeing a digital alarm display on a pencil case. Maybe being a brown Muslim sealed the deal for a few individuals, but schools take threats of any kind very seriously.

 

[gimmepie]

Knowing the general gist doesn't mean you actually know the person to any significant degree either. I think you're greatly underestimating how much you have to interact with a person to be able to accurately determine if they're capable of committing something like this.

You can also know someone for years and not know they're capable of an act of terror, as is usually the case. Generally speaking though, people would know enough to not find him bringing random electronics to school unusual.

Or maybe they got the wrong impression because most people aren't used to seeing a digital alarm display on a pencil case. Maybe being a brown Muslim sealed the deal for a few individuals, but schools take threats of any kind very seriously.

I'm studying a degree in education, I've done work in schools before and I come from a family that is full of people who have worked in schools or with children. I've got a pretty good idea how they function and they're generally not on 24/7 terror alert. The only reason anyone even perceived a threat to begin with is because of his religion and ethnicity and the end result of stupid actions may well be that a brilliant young mind is turned away from his area of talent.

 

[Luck]

You can also know someone for years and not know they're capable of an act of terror, as is usually the case. Generally speaking though, people would know enough to not find him bringing random electronics to school unusual.

Apparently not, because his engineering teacher was knowledgeable enough to assume that normal people would be worried if he showed his "invention" to others, even if he was known for bringing in "random electronics", which is incredibly vague and not particularly safe sounding in of itself.

I'm studying a degree in education, I've done work in schools before and I come from a family that is full of people who have worked in schools or with children. I've got a pretty good idea how they function and they're generally not on 24/7 terror alert.

Maybe that's the case in Australia, but American schools have generally taken threats very seriously since the Columbine massacre.

The only reason anyone even perceived a threat to begin with is because of his religion and ethnicity and the end result of stupid actions may well be that a brilliant young mind is turned away from his area of talent.

Or maybe it's because most people aren't part of the bomb squad and don't recognize what a board and series of wires mean upon first glance.

Let's be honest here, if a person is really turned away from their area of talent (which in this case is supposedly stuffing alarm guts in a case) by a short arrest with no charges, then they were never really passionate about the subject in the first place.

 

[pokecole]

My opinion on the matter is that there are multiple wrong things with all of this. There's the school staff who in deciding something might have been a bomb, which I don't fault them for, it's very similar to looking like one, so why not be safe rather than possibly allow a tragedy, by I entirely fault them on execution of this. Evacuation? None. No procedures to ensure safety had it actually been a bomb were taken, so at that point it was completely pointless to take him into custody. The people crying, "racism!", I don't particularly agree with. If I, being a white male, had brought something like that to school, people would be suspicious as well. I think the school was good in thinking that they should be safer and make the call, but they completely disgusted me with their procedure.

 

[shadowmoon522]

Maybe that's the case in Australia, but American schools have generally taken threats very seriously since the Columbine massacre.


Or maybe it's because most people aren't part of the bomb squad and don't recognize what a board and series of wires mean upon first glance.

Let's be honest here, if a person is really turned away from their area of talent (which in this case is supposedly stuffing alarm guts in a case) by a short arrest with no charges, then they were never really passionate about the subject in the first place.

and thus with the paranoia of fools, the scams shall flood.

 

[Keiran]

Or maybe it's because most people aren't part of the bomb squad and don't recognize what a board and series of wires mean upon first glance.

You don't need to be an expert to see that there were no explosives.

 

[shadowmoon522]

You don't need to be an expert to see that there were no explosives.

unless the people involved where extremely stupid.

 

[Luck]

You don't need to be an expert to see that there were no explosives.

That's obviously not the case since his teacher told him it wasn't a good idea to show it in public. The average person doesn't know what a bomb is composed of, so why are you speaking as if it's common knowledge for high school kids?

 

[shadowmoon522]

That's obviously not the case since his teacher told him it wasn't a good idea to show it in public. The average person doesn't know what a bomb is composed of, so why are you speaking as if it's common knowledge for high school kids?

I've met plenty of high school kids who where idiots over my life time, but not any that where that stupid.

 

[Raichulover123]

What?! What!? Thats just wrong... America sucks as an country... it really does..