
Texas Teen Still Suspended Despite No Charges, Will Change Schools - austenallred
https://grasswire.com/story/133/texas-teen-arrested
======
dang
When a story has already had major attention on HN (which this one has:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10226196](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10226196)),
we treat follow-up posts as dupes unless they add significant new information.

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20%22significant%20new...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20%22significant%20new%20information%22&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment)

~~~
scott_karana
Maybe the original article has expanded, but this seems to have more
information to me: his invitation to the whitehouse, the fact that the mayor
stands by the police, and that he is still suspended and will change school.

~~~
minimaxir
While interesting, I wouldn't consider those things "significant", especially
as they have been covered in the comments in linked thread anyways.

~~~
scott_karana
I guess your first point's fair, but not everyone reads the comments. (Oh, who
am I kidding! ;))

~~~
kbenson
For the first few months I used HN I didn't read the comments. Now,
occasionally I just read the comments and don't read the article, if there's
an interesting thread that sidetracks me that doesn't really require knowledge
of the article.

------
gyardley
So, should we consider this event a net negative because this poor teenager
got perp walked by a bunch of people who were quite likely racist and
apparently too dumb to tell a circuit board from a bomb? Or should we consider
this event a net positive because he's almost certainly going to end up at a
much better high school after getting to meet the president and Mark
Zuckerberg?

On the one hand, no one should have to go through what he did. On the other
hand, the fourteen-year-old version of me would've happily put himself in
handcuffs for a chance at getting out of my cow-town high school.

~~~
rayiner
The more I think about it, the more I'm skeptical that the teachers were too
dumb to tell a circuit board apart from a bomb. He could have gotten in
trouble for making something that _looked like a bomb_ even if nobody that it
was one. Just as in most schools kids get in trouble for making (or even
drawing) things intended to look like guns even when it's totally clear to
everyone that it isn't an actual gun.

That's a stupid policy too, but a different kind of stupid.

~~~
pvg
The first teacher who saw the clock told him not to show it around. They
definitely knew it wasn't a bomb. It's not even that hard to have some
sympathy for the teachers or even school administrators who are subject to all
sorts of stupid policies. The insane thing seems to be that in the entire
chain of escalation from teacher to principal to police nobody appears to have
thought of some better way to resolve the situation than handcuffing a 14 year
old at school and carting him off to juvie.

------
smpetrey
If this kid applies to the University of North Texas TAMS program... he has
the highest letter of recommendation coming his way from not only the POTUS
but Zuck too.

[http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/16/9338747/mark-zuckerberg-
fa...](http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/16/9338747/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-
ahmad-mohamed-clock)

~~~
nightski
Hmm, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand everyone goes crazy
because of the arrest/suspension claiming racism and unfair treatment.

Now Zuck and even the President invite him to visit for the same reasons
(because he is a muslim who created a clock and brought it to school) and
everyone is excited about this.

In my opinion both acts are seemingly being done for the wrong reasons. It's
sad really, because now the boy will never know if he is being invited out
because he created a cool clock, or because helping minorities is good PR.
It's also disappointing because of all the other kids out there who are
working hard on making things that will never get attention because they are
not being discriminated against.

~~~
shas3
Put yourself in a 14-year old's shoes. If you had a passion for electronics
and invention and were snubbed this badly for building something cool and
taking it to school, how would you feel? I, for one would have been
devastated. At best, I would have lost interest in school and developed deep
mistrust of teachers. At worst, I would have developed an aversion to being a
maker and started neglecting my grades. Mind you, 14 years is when people are
hyper-aware of such things. If this had happened in college or in primary
school, most of us would have weathered it.

Zuckerberg, Obama, Clinton, Dash, and others are overcorrecting for this in
order to ensure that the kid doesn't get dejected and discouraged from being a
maker.

There's already far too much ostracizing of nerds and geeks in school to add
powerful adult actors like school principals and police into the mix. I don't
see any room for 'mixed feelings' here.

We just have to hope that the kid comes out of this as happy or happier and as
or more successful than he'd otherwise have been.

~~~
GauntletWizard
As someone who was once 16 and suspended for much the same reasons, I
developed a severe mistrust of authority, became a libertarian, and am pretty
highly successful in my adulthood because of it. Unfortunately, it doesn't
make me very popular at parties - Most people seems to have some strange
stockholm syndrome for the shitty teachers they encountered.

------
rayiner
When I was in HS, I did Bot Ball. Our robot was powered by a HandyBoard, which
definitely looks like a bomb:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HandyBoard_GJP.jpg](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HandyBoard_GJP.jpg).
Remember going through the airport with it on the way to finals, joking around
about how it looked like a bomb. Didn't get in any trouble despite being
brown. And it wasn't just us--thousands of kids did school projects with the
HandyBoard over the years. It was very popular.

I'm tempted to believe that people are just dumber than they were when I was a
kid, but the truth is that this sort of thing is a freak accident. A hundred
kids bring something like this into school and it's virtually guaranteed that
one will eventually hit school administrators that are low on the bell curve.

Also, I'm seeing a lot of "Texas" in comments to this story. It's really
unfair. I'm here in the DC metro surrounded by highly educated latte liberals,
and they're some of the most paranoid parents in the country. Don't think for
a second this wouldn't happen in, e.g., Silver Spring (where those parents got
CPS called on them for letting their kids walk home from school).

~~~
JamesBarney
I don't think people are dumber now. They're just scared of different things.
This generation has the boogie man of terrorism, and last generations had DnD
and Satanism.

~~~
bduerst
Pretty much, a definite side effect of the "Security Theater". I wonder what
the next trendy irrational fear will be - GMO food?

------
vishaldpatel
Dear Texas, we'll happily take your unwanted geniuses. Best Wishes, -
California.

~~~
unethical_ban
Dear Mr Patel,

Take the reddit stereotypes back to reddit.

-Smart, civic Texan with smart Texan friends.

~~~
rblatz
Uh, if you were so smart you'd understand that this is in response to a school
in Texas badly handling a smart kid doing smart kid things. Has any high level
official in Texas apologized, or said anything decrying this student's
treatment? If not, then it seems like Texas is standing behind this.

~~~
amyjess
Nah, it's just Irving that's a shithole. Most of the cities around it are
fine, including Dallas proper.

Last year, an article about the least LGBT-friendly places in the US was
published [0]. Irving landed at #2. That same article mentioned that Dallas
proper was one of the _most_ LGBT-friendly places in the US. It's not much of
a stretch to say that this applies not just to LGBT people but to all kinds of
people that the crazy right-wing fundamentalists dislike, including smart
people and Muslims. From my personal observation having lived in Dallas and
Richardson all my life, I can vouch for this. It's widely acknowledged here
that Dallas is a very progressive city and that Irving is a shithole.

Besides, most of our tech industry is concentrated in Richardson [1]. Between
UTD, TI, and the Telecom Corridor, Richardson is a pretty damn good place to
be if you're smart.

[0]
[http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/11/22/247-...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/11/22/247-wall-
st-lgbt-cities/19354553/)

[1] Richardson is a suburb to the northeast of Dallas in the same way that
Irving is a suburb to the northwest of Dallas, so it's a pretty apt
comparison. Actually, Dallas is kind of shaped like Godzilla: on a map of city
limits, Richardson and Irving look like they sit on Dallas's shoulders (though
Irving is kinds leaning off the edge).

~~~
ashwinaj
> It's not much of a stretch to say that this applies not just to LGBT people
> but to all kinds of people that the crazy right-wing fundamentalists
> dislike, including smart people and Muslims. From my personal observation
> having lived in Dallas and Richardson all my life, I can vouch for this

My general observation as an outsider in Texas (Dallas 3 years and Austin 4
years) is way off from yours. It's not a question about right wing hatred,
that's just hyperbole. There is an attitude in Texas where if "you aren't one
of us", you don't belong here (in a subtle way). That in my opinion is
undeniable. I bet if this incident was at Highland park, the result would be
the same.

------
jotux
Picture of the clock the kid made:
[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPCXrKUVEAApkmV.jpg](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPCXrKUVEAApkmV.jpg)

~~~
aliston
Does anyone else think that this story seems a little bit contrived? There are
so many photos of the incident at each of the various stages -- it makes it
look like it was engineered as a news story. The youtube video comes across as
prepared and polished and the response (no talking without a lawyer present
etc.) seems like something you'd see on PR wire.

I'm not saying that the whole thing isn't ridiculous, but I'm skeptical that
this is the full story. Honestly, I'm as familiar with working on circuit
boards as the next guy, but if I saw someone (anyone, any race) carrying
something like that in an airport, it'd raise an eyebrow.

~~~
techman9
A school isn't an airport. And he ASKED to show his ENGINEERING teacher a
project he had created. It's not as if he just showed up with an assortment of
PCB's and wires that he whipped out in class.

In short, yes, it perhaps wasn't the greatest idea for Ahmed to be walking
around in school with something that could be perceived as a bomb, but you'd
think the police/school administration would have figured out he meant no harm
after he told them several times that it was simply a clock. The outrage here
is over the extreme reaction, not over the wisdom of his actions.

~~~
wutbrodo
> In short, yes, it perhaps wasn't the greatest idea for Ahmed to be walking
> around in school with something that could be perceived as a bomb

This part of the issue has been less focused on than the racist angle, but the
fact that kids are scared to tinker because of the zero-tolerance hyper-
sensitivity of schools is in my mind the more interesting part of the story.

You're probably not wrong, but it's hugely sad to me that you consider it a
bad idea to bring in a personal project, with permission, advance
notification, and repeated clarifications of what it actually is, simply
because it "could be perceived as a bomb" (which means it has wires?). I can't
think of a better way to discourage kids from tinkering around with
electronics.

~~~
techman9
I absolutely agree with you and was going to post a comment to similar effect
but couldn't really find the right words. I'm presently a university student
so I'm really just a few years removed from Ahmed's age and mindset. It's
tragic to me that the default position of figures of authority toward students
who are interested in technology (even in today's increasingly technology
driven world), is one of suspicion and fear.

While I suspect that a lot of this is due to a generational divide between
administrators and students, the message this sends is that students should
not be interested in science and engineering because those topics sort of
abstractly distant and scary. Students should be ENCOURAGED, not punished for
being creative and inventive, even if it means they're being a little bit
subversive or have viewpoints that run counter to those in people of positions
of authority.

~~~
wutbrodo
> While I suspect that a lot of this is due to a generational divide between
> administrators and students

I'm sure this is part of it, but the theory[1] that schools in general are
built around churning out uncreative, docile workers for the industrial
economy has been around for a long, long time. Hell, "Another Brick in the
Wall" was, what, 1978?

[1] Note that I'm specifying that this is a theory since I've never done
enough research on both sides to feel certain that this is a particularly
well-founded belief. What little I've heard is fairly plausible.

------
coldcode
I am (yet again) embarrassed to be from Texas. If you read what Steve Jobs did
in high school, if that was today and he was Muslim, he'd never started Apple.
Here we are looking at diversity in the face, a young engineer proud of his
learning, and the hicks in Irving brand him as the next Osama. That stupid
mayor's tweet is classic.

------
beat
Lucky boy, to have parents so committed and willing to stand by him, and help
him grow into his talent. Unlucky boy, to have to do it in a place filled with
bigots and morons. On the other hand, this kind of setback builds character.
It teaches clever children of the tyranny of petty adults with petty
authority, so they know what to distrust, and what to not become themselves.

------
wheaties
This is going to be one hell of a college letter. You know, the one that all
colleges ask you write? He could write it today or he could wait to write it
after he met the President.

------
tamstams
My alma mater, an early college high school in the Dallas area, seems to want
him.
[https://mobile.twitter.com/KevinRoden/status/644006028435042...](https://mobile.twitter.com/KevinRoden/status/644006028435042305)
Really hope it works out!

------
revelation
This is of course the instinctive response of all small-minded persons
challenged in their "authority".

In the face of opposition, never change course! It's the ultimate downfall of
bureaucracy, humans will burn down the world before admitting their mistakes.

------
rblatz
Hopefully the town remembers this next time they vote for their school board.
The principal and the superintendent are answerable to these elected people,
and almost no one cares who wins.

~~~
kaonashi
They're probably still punishing him _because_ of the voters in the district,
not despite them.

~~~
beat
Sad but true.

------
ck2
Not that this actually matters but out of morbid curiosity - did he actually
assemble a clock kit or did he simply disassemble a regular nightstand clock
and put it into a little carry case?

I mean it is good he is learning how things work inside but I don't think he
actually made anything and actually was fooling around with an openly exposed
110VAC transformer. He definitely needs some guidance and help with this stuff
before he hurts himself or burns the house down.

This is like that woman at MIT who had a circuit board clipped onto her
clothes and went to pick someone up at the airport and almost got murdered by
security.

~~~
Vivtek
Given that the original freakout on the part of the English teacher was
precipitated by the alarm going off while the clock was in his bag, I'm
thinking it was battery-powered, not plugged in. Power cords are cheap, easily
accessible wire that are not necessarily always carrying grid voltage.
Although that picture certainly shows a plug, so who knows? I do wonder how
the alarm went off - if that isn't just embellishment after the fact.

That said, _I_ certainly fooled around with live power when I was his age. The
house didn't burn down because we had a competent electrician install circuit
breakers when we built it.

~~~
aperrien
I have fond memories of learning to repair old black and white TV sets over
the summer with my uncle at 14. We both managed to give ourselves some pretty
hefty zaps. I still look back at the experience as one of the more fun times I
had.

------
lazaroclapp
Good for whichever school he chooses to go to! Any announcement on that yet,
or is he waiting for his letters of admission and full scholarship to all the
top private schools in the country? ;)

~~~
freehunter
I'm not sure top private schools would just hand out full rides to a high
school student who built a clock... if they do, I went to a really shitty
school for nothing.

~~~
lazaroclapp
Neither would you normally get invited to the White House or Facebook HQ for
building a clock. But he should definitely take advantage of the 15 min of
fame to go to the best place possible. And I mean top private high schools,
not necessarily college yet. Pretty sure anyone who builds interesting science
projects while in a clearly unsupportive environment would thrive at a top
level STEM high-school.

------
nak_attack
I don't see anything on this page referring to the student remaining
suspended.

------
bedhead
The mayor _still_ stands by police. Madness, pure madness. Public officials,
more and more, are a self-selecting group populated only by some of our worst
thinkers.

------
Xyik
This is ridiculously overblown. Glad to see people defending him and righting
a wrong, but all of this is going to inflate his head.

~~~
moinnadeem
I disagree. He seems level-headed and focused enough that he could take this
as motivation. If he was arrogant, he would have capitalized on it, created a
social media account and a gofundme. He seems humble to me.

Source: 17-year old who faced similar media attention, it did inflate my ego a
bit despite attempts to remain humble.

------
jasonjei
I left a voicemail at 972-600-5000 (school district hotline) to voice my
discontent.

