The setting: You're a high school English teacher, and one of your students brings this small briefcase to your class, opens it, and this ^ is what you see.
You go tell your principal what you saw (he/she may have come to personally see it, I don't know), and concerned that it was a homemade bomb, called the police. Erring on the side of caution the police arrested the student, and the school suspended him for three days.
A justified, reasonably cautious reaction? Discuss.
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What if the student's name was David Carson. Would it make any difference?
What if the student's name was Mahatma Patel. Would it make any difference?
What if the student's name was Ahmed Mohamad. Would it make any difference?
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It turned out the "device" was a homemade clock that the student made and proudly brought to school to impress his teacher. He was obviously a super smart kid, and after checking out his story and his project, the police said no charges would be filed. They said they had simply erred on the side of student safety, considering the times we live in.
Do you see a clock in that briefcase? I'm
not an electrical engineer, and I have no idea what all those wires and
that circuit board are for, but I would never have guessed this was a clock.
For the record, the student's name was Ahmed Mohamad, and his parents are now enjoying their 15 minutes of fame, angrily claiming before TV cameras their son was the victim of Islamophobia. The social media is on fire, praising the student for his ingenuity (agreed), the President has invited him to the White House, and because of this one-sided response, I'm guessing the police are in effect being accused of overreacting.
Is this much ado about nothing....overreacting....or a play of the race / religion card?
Your opinions would be appreciated, but please, BE NICE.
S
