The Clock Ticks (Ahmed Mohamed's clock bomb)

[chrysostom]

I was being sarcastic.

do you think
Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed
should be held responsible?

 

[Nathon Detroit]

Perhaps the prodigies'll just be happy with changing the world as opposed to grabbing some ink?:idunno:

I'm guessing the kids who created an inexpensive method of detecting Ebola, ad the kid who made a solar-powered silver solution for cleaning water, also the kid who coded a pair of algorithms that automatically detect gravitationally lensed quasars in astronomical data, were just biting their lips thinking..... "Oh jeez, give me a break.... this idiot takes a clock apart and gets to go to the White House."

 

[Nathon Detroit]

do you think
Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed
should be held responsible?

Sounds like he was the mastermind. And he is the father of the kid so yes.... he should be held responsible.

 

[Town Heretic]

Wow TH is really behind the crappy clock "maker".

Nah, I just don't like watching a lot of adults go out of their way to slap at a fourteen year old because they're antagonistic toward his religion.

I'd feel and object the same if this was an Amish kid, or my kid, or your kid, or the next fellow's. Because that's what it's about to me. I'm not trying to fight a larger battle.

As bright as this young fellow is touted to be wouldn't he have realized that by disobeying the teacher he would get into trouble?

I had the sense the earlier teacher was trying to warn him, not order him.

I certainly do not agree with the way this was handled but the young fellow is not without some responsibility for his actions?

He's fourteen. I think he acted like a fourteen year old.

There's a reason we don't let them drink and drive at fourteen and it's not height. If the first teacher really thought there was something worrisome beyond the possibility then he or she should have and easily could have said, "I'm going to keep this for you until after school" and ended this before it began.

That he or she didn't speaks to something, but I don't think that something is sinister either.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

Nah, I just don't like watching a lot of adults go out of their way to slap at a fourteen year old because they're antagonistic toward his religion.

You seriously think that is what this is about?? Apparently you do otherwise you wouldn't have typed that. That strikes me as naive.

Let me ask you a question.... what do you think of Amhed's clock? Was it creative? Was it done well? Was it worthy of praise? Did it take a lot of intelligence to create? Had your 9th grade child created it would you think he was a genius?

Give me your thoughts on the clock.

 

[bybee]

Nah, I just don't like watching a lot of adults go out of their way to slap at a fourteen year old because they're antagonistic toward his religion.

I'd feel and object the same if this was an Amish kid, or my kid, or your kid, or the next fellow's. Because that's what it's about to me. I'm not trying to fight a larger battle.



I had the sense the earlier teacher was trying to warn him, not order him.


He's fourteen. I think he acted like a fourteen year old.

There's a reason we don't let them drink and drive at fourteen and it's not height. If the first teacher really thought there was something worrisome beyond the possibility then he or she should have and easily could have said, "I'm going to keep this for you until after school" and ended this before it began.

That he or she didn't speaks to something, but I don't think that something is sinister either.

As bright as this young fellow is touted to be perhaps the teacher thought that a friendly warning was sufficient?
Why shouldn't a bright young fellow do as he was told?
Had he done as told none of this would have happened.

 

[bybee]

Because as we know people who always do exactly what they're told are the ones who get ahead in life and make a difference. Worked wonders for Ford, Tesla, Edison, Jobs, Lennon...

I didn't speak to "always" doing as one is told.
This was one incident wherein it would be common sense to be obedient.

 

[bybee]

I think it's fair to say that he should have. But, once again, he's a teenager, more in need of guidance and correction than serious punishment and humiliation. And having him arrested is just absurd, to the point that I think the school is far more in the wrong than he was. A lot of the structural racism in this country isn't related to how we treat completely innocent people, but rather how we handle people who commit minor infractions or cause minor disruptions and inconvenience.



Well, I think that's reasonably close to agreement.

I prefer a light touch with children, especially bright young children.
But, I wasn't there.

 

[bybee]

You would think ... but then again, kids do dumb things (due to lack of maturity), and I wouldn't expect them to think of the consequences in the same way an adult would. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be expectations, punishments or rewards, just not at the same level as that of adults.

Agreed!

 

[bybee]

Right, my thought is that there might be others who are more "deserving". But that is an abstract topic and completely off track.

"Life ain't fair!"
"Nobody ever promised you a rose garden!"
Two of my least favorite statements!

 

[Town Heretic]

You seriously think that is what this is about??

I don't think there's anything here to be talking about absent the underlying use of it as an expression of hostility aimed at something larger, from liberals to the President, to Muslims.

Or, like I said earlier, if you make this kid a Christian kid I'd bet my aunt Fanny that you'd be hearing a hue and cry of a very different sort about the jackboots of the state and the persecution of Christians, how any idiot should have known this wasn't a bomb.

Heck, only one teacher that we know of thought anything about it.

Apparently you do otherwise you wouldn't have typed that. That strikes me as naive.

Assuming the worst, that he just slapped an old clock's guts into the case and tried to pass it off as something more, I think fourteen year olds do things every day that would have most adults shaking head.

I don't think a single thread here has ever been started about that.

Let me ask you a question.... what do you think of Amhed's clock? Was it creative? Was it done well? Was it worthy of praise? Did it take a lot of intelligence to create? Had your 9th grade child created it would you think he was a genius?

I'm not impressed by it as a science project unless he had to cobble it together from a number of sources and put enough time and thought into it to warrant a pat on the back.

I don't know how much planning, scavaging or work went into it. Could be a lot. Might be next to none. And I wouldn't grade a paper I hadn't read because someone else who didn't read it gave it a C- (speaking to the semi-anonymous fellow whose guestimations are the foundation for most of the negative spin, being reproduced in right wing site after site).

And why is that, really? Why would so many partisan political sites get that involved in the work of a fourteen year old?

Give me your thoughts on the clock.

I say it's about time.

 

[Town Heretic]

As bright as this young fellow is touted to be perhaps the teacher thought that a friendly warning was sufficient?

I've taught. I'm going to be a teacher. I can't think of one who isn't fresh out of school who would assume that about a fourteen year old boy.

More to the point though, if it was something that should have concerned the faculty or seemed serious enough to then the teacher should have simply confiscated it, as teachers do routinely, every day in school.

Why shouldn't a bright young fellow do as he was told?

Because a suggestion isn't an order and he wanted to show it off.

Had he done as told none of this would have happened.

Again, either he did something wrong and he got what was coming to him or he didn't. The police who arrested him said he didn't. So no, it's not his fault.

 

[bybee]

I've taught. I'm going to be a teacher. I can't think of one who isn't fresh out of school who would assume that about a fourteen year old boy.

More to the point though, if it was something that should have concerned the faculty or seemed serious enough to then the teacher should have simply confiscated it, as teachers do routinely, every day in school.


Because a suggestion isn't an order and he wanted to show it off.


Again, either he did something wrong and he got what was coming to him or he didn't. The police who arrested him said he didn't. So no, it's not his fault.

Yes, it is his fault. I've raised five children and been involved in the nurturing of many others.
There is cause and effect. Rules must be fairly enforced for the good of all.
I'd have held him to the mark and dealt with it on the spot.
But, again, I wasn't there.
Where do we go if people are not responsible for their words and deeds?

 

[Nathon Detroit]

And why is that, really? Why would so many partisan political sites get that involved in the work of a fourteen year old?

Probably because most folks can sense when we are being "duped" and they want to expose the fraud. And the other side is interested because they want to help with the "duping".

 

[Quetzal]

"Life ain't fair!"
"Nobody ever promised you a rose garden!"
Two of my least favorite statements!

:cheers:

 

[TomO]

The boy and his father knew exactly what they were doing.

After spending some time looking into it I have come to the conclusion that Richard Dawkins is correct (A sentence I never thought that I would write). I have no doubt the boy and his father came up with this together and the situation worked out exactly as (maybe even better than) they hoped it would.

Is this the same as saying I think they did something "wrong"? No...They just took advantage of foolish, ignorant, frightened people who have given themselves over to the "zero tolerance" mindset which, admittedly, has been forced upon them in a lot of cases.

....at least the kid didn't bring in a loaded Pop-tart.




Our country deserves whatever it gets. lain:

 

[Nathon Detroit]

The boy and his father knew exactly what they were doing.

After spending some time looking into it I have come to the conclusion that Richard Dawkins is correct (A sentence I never thought that I would write). I have no doubt the boy and his father came up with this together and the situation worked out exactly as (maybe even better than) they hoped it would.

Is this the same as saying I think they did something "wrong"? No...They just took advantage of foolish, ignorant, frightened people who have given themselves over to the "zero tolerance" mindset which, admittedly, has been forced upon them in a lot of cases.

....at least the kid didn't bring in a loaded Pop-tart.




Our country deserves whatever it gets. lain:

Wow! Very well said. :up:

 

[bybee]

The boy and his father knew exactly what they were doing.

After spending some time looking into it I have come to the conclusion that Richard Dawkins is correct (A sentence I never thought that I would write). I have no doubt the boy and his father came up with this together and the situation worked out exactly as (maybe even better than) they hoped it would.

Is this the same as saying I think they did something "wrong"? No...They just took advantage of foolish, ignorant, frightened people who have given themselves over to the "zero tolerance" mindset which, admittedly, has been forced upon them in a lot of cases.

....at least the kid didn't bring in a loaded Pop-tart.




Our country deserves whatever it gets. lain:

Spot on in usual inimitable TomO fashion!

 

[TomO]

:e4e:

 

[Town Heretic]

The boy and his father knew exactly what they were doing.

Well, who doesn't understand a clock. At least twice a day. lain:

After spending some time looking into it I have come to the conclusion that Richard Dawkins is correct (A sentence I never thought that I would write). I have no doubt the boy and his father came up with this together and the situation worked out exactly as (maybe even better than) they hoped it would.

I think you're about as wrong as you can be and the whole "agree with Richard Dawkins" should probably have been the reasonable warning shot across your brow.

Is this the same as saying I think they did something "wrong"? No...They just took advantage of foolish, ignorant, frightened people who have given themselves over to the "zero tolerance" mindset which, admittedly, has been forced upon them in a lot of cases.

I think that's literally a half step removed from moon landing conspiracy.

Our country deserves whatever it gets. lain:

If any of us got what we deserved none of us would get what's coming to some of us.