[austenallred]

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 should have shown the clock to his engineering teacher and resolved the issue in minutes.

[marcinx27]

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 teacher what it was, according to an account in The Dallas Morning News."

[austenallred]

I mean the initial concern as in "What is that circuit board?"

Then it should go, "Oh it's a clock." "Is that true, engineering teacher?" "Yes." "OK cool."

[knowaveragejoe]

That's how it should go, in an ideal world. I think the engineering teacher did the right thing in suggesting he not show it off, given society today. He's aware of racial profiling in a post 9/11 world and how stupid some people are.

[davidw]

> 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

[jkestner]

I wonder, did any of the staff actually know the kid? They're acting like he wandered in, and not like any of them could attest to his character.

[yellowapple]

It's pretty early in the school year, and judging by his stated age he's likely a freshman. Not much of a chance for a teacher to ascertain things like "character".

[schreiaj]

Man, I must have interacted with weird middle schoolers at my local hackerspace... Seemed like every last one of them had either some simple arduino project or something with a RasPi they were working on. I'd hate to live in a place where most people have no idea what a circuit board looks like.

Also, asking doesn't need to get the police involved: "Hey, what is this?" "Oh it's a clock I built" 'Why'd you bring it to school?" "Cuz I'm proud of it and wanted to show you"

If there was still doubt, ok, find someone who knows something about it (there's gotta be a tinkerer SOMEWHERE in the school district) and ask them to take a look. Maybe couch it as "Why don't we show it to X, I think they'd get a kick out of it?"

But arresting a 14 yr old tinkerer for a clock? Whatever happened to having sane reasonable conversations?

[smileysteve]

We're trying to promote stem in the U.S., not say, "middle school is too early"

Anecdotally; I was wiring together simple switches, electric motors, and solar panels in and out of the classroom in elementary school in the mid 90s. I was programming timers and games in middle school by the late 90s.