THERE HAS BEEN a lot of talk today about the 14-year-old Muslim boy who was put in handcuffs by police at a Texas school after he built an electronic clock.
Ahmed Mohamed was taken from his school in handcuffs on Monday after bringing in the clock to show to his engineering teacher.
Another teacher saw it, thought it looked like a bomb and alerted authorities.
Though the clock posed no danger to anyone in the school, the teenage boy was suspended for three days.
This letter was also sent out to parents of children at Irving MacArthur High School:
In the letter, principal Daniel Cummings says the school takes “immediate and necessary precautions” if it believes there is any threat to children.
He goes on to imply that the 14 year old may have breached the code of conduct, adding that the school is “co-operating fully with the ongoing police investigation”. This is despite the fact that the principal acknowledges in his own letter that the clock “did not pose a threat to your child’s safety”.
I recommend using this opportunity to talk with your child about the Student Code of Conduct and specifically not bringing items to school that are prohibited.
Cummings does not give details of why a clock might be a prohibited item.
Also, this is a good time to remind your child how important it is to immediately report any suspicious items and/or suspicious behaviour they observe to any school employee so we can address it right away.
News of the boy’s treatment sparked outrage in the last two days with many people criticising the school for punishing a child for being clever and innovative.
The latest to weigh in on the debate was US President Barack Obama who had a slightly different message for Ahmed Mohamed than his school did:
He also got an invite to visit Facebook:
And there was even some praise from NASA:
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