| The small metallic type suitcase/box may have been a perfect container 1) To cram in all the ugly looking wires inside while the outer appearance of the product looks polished
2) Nice platform to tether the circuit boards etc to keep them in place
3) Doubles up as a carry box to move around his project and display/show to friends , teachers etc On the flip side 1) There is subtle difference between timers vs clocks
2) Doesn't look anything like a traditional clock, but more like a James Bondish suitcase/gadget, especially if I just saw the picture of the device alone with no other context given to me. Having said that, , I am in no way defending the action of police or the school. What is needed was context, ability to do minimum analysis and common sense. And the teachers, school administration, police had plenty of that. It could have been a simple matter of explaining to the kid , while his zeal is appreciated, to notify his teachers in advance in future, to make sure his projects don't disturb the class, and to encourage more such robotic/electronic projects for science fairs etc (appropriate time and place for everything) Also unfortunately, due to the current security song and dance every where, kids (and adults too) have to be taught about being sensitive to fear and perceptions of others timing/location/context . Even kids may have to be explained to be sensitive to such things. May be all or some involved may be bigoted towards the muslim community as the media or comments suggest and that may have played a role in the escalation. And may be some(or all) weren't. But generally concerned about past incidents related to school environments and violence in schools (Shootings etc). Some of these were perpetrated by fellow students, which can't be discounted in playing into the fears of those involved in this incident. We can't say for sure , religion/color was the sole motivation. Some past violent incidents were perpetrated by white kids/persons. So if it were a white kid in this situation, can we absolutely discount 100% that similar amount of concern might have not been triggered in the class teacher's mind, or the administration or police. The point is, reasonable benefit of doubt can be given to the teacher, admin, police for going into a heightened/alert mode. But what cannot be justified is the failure in subsequent analysis and diffusion of the tension at every level. The teacher could have clarified the intention, and diffused the tension and not escalated it after establishing facts (and the awareness of the enthusiasm and character of a kid of their own class that they should be familiar with). Or the next level, school security/admin could have diffused and de-escalated the situation. Or the police could have done that. But, no, escalation seems to be a one way process for authority/admin/police these days. What happened to 'peace keeping' part of their job ? |
I see this post as a thoughtful plea for context and consideration. What am I missing?