Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34266389

I am ashamed to be a Texan. Thank you, Irving ISD & Police Department, for making the "right" call. What are your thoughts?

I think it's ridiculous that an educator can't tell the difference between a bomb and a mini computer wired to a display screen :| There's no doubt in my mind that their reaction was related to his Muslim heritage.

Its cause he had brown skin and he was a muslim
if it were a american kid teacher would be like 'Oh harry! wonderful, you're so intelligent my boy
But it was ahmed ....
And thats how it went for him
'Oh my god! you terrorist! I'm gonna call the cops!.
.......

read that now he's gotten an invitation to the white house, and and chris hadfield (Canadian astronaut) also invited him to something. i think it was a talk show? i can't remember...

>>3(not intending to cause controversy) Even if his cultural or racial heritage was the cause of this incident, Ahmed was still partially in err. He told no teachers about his project, even if it was part of school curriculum. This isn't so much about race as it is security risks. But for the sake of a fair point, lets say Ahmed was an "Arnold" or a "Harry"; do you mean to say figures of authority would take less action against potentially dangerous students, if only due to the color of their skin or their ethnicity/ culture? In most cases of violent school killings, the aggressors tend to be middle class, white, and mentally unstable. However, anyone can be a security risk, especially when carrying foreign material and/or paraphernalia, in which case local law enforcement had proper authority in the matter; that is to say, they could've handled this a little better.
...And now that I've said my piece, feel free to curse, roar, and spit on my semi-good name(I don't mind).

I agree it may be racism but at the same time there is no way to be sure

>>5
>do you mean to say figures of authority would take less action against potentially dangerous students, if only due to the color of their skin or their ethnicity/ culture?

I think that's true.
He wouldn't have got arrested I don't think.
The teacher may have called the principal instead, or otherwise freaked out, but not the police.

It's not like were he white, no one would have said anything. But he shouldn't have got arrested and the cops shouldn't have been called. The Engineering teacher should have been called over instead. Honestly, calling the cops was not going to stop him from detonating it if it were a bomb...might as well just call the principal or Engineering teacher.

It's a tough situation. People are making it out to be very simple but it's not. There's a lot of risks you have to take and protect yourself against when you are a teacher. You are responsible for your kids. If that was a bomb and it went off, the teacher would take the blame again.
"Of course it was a bomb! It was a suspicious looking circuit board, why wouldn't you do something?"
"A clock?! Of course it wasn't a clock! My kid would still be alive if you had done something!"

This is how you can tell the kid is also in the wrong. If, no matter what the teacher does, they can get blamed like above, then the situation itself is wrong. AKA, bringing the clock and letting it ring in class. Yes, it shouldn't have escalated that quickly (police, arrest, etc) but there was bound to be a reaction. So, even though it is very cool to get that look of awe from people when you build something they don't understand, it can cause problems.

I think that it is a fair point that Ahmed DID bring in an unknown homemade device into school, and that yes it could have looked a bit sketchy. However I still think that if the same had happened to a white boy, then the teachers and police would have been more tolerant. It seems ever since 9/11 people have had a phobia of Muslims or the like . There is an interesting article of stories like Ahmeds by teen Vogue as well, you should check it out.

>>8 My classmates and I brought "unknown homemade devices" into school all the time. It's not sketchy, it's called technology classes, and there's no excuse for this situation getting to the point where he was interviewed by authorities. He had already shown and gotten approval from his engineering teacher. If they weren't so caught up in the idea that a Muslim boy was trying to bomb the school, they would've communicated with the other teacher about it first.

The level of violence increases as the fear grows. Vice-versa is also true.