A Simple Clock

Last weekend, a kid decided to build a clock. This was just a simple digital clock, but the kid wanted to bring it to school to impress his teachers.  When he showed the clock to some of his teachers, instead of being congratulated on his hard work, he was slapped into cuffs. The teachers apparently thought that this board was a bomb, and took it away and sent the kid down to the office, where police came and arrested him.  Why such an extreme reaction from the teachers? Even if they thought at first it may have been a bomb, with a quick examination, it would be clear to tell there was no explosive material or any other components of a bomb, it was simply a digital clock. This kid's name is Ahmed Mohamed, and he might of been racially accused.

Racial comments aside, what I'm more dumbfound over was the fact that at the end of all this Ahmed was punished with a 3 day suspension.  If this situation was truly a bomb hoax threat, 3 days of suspension seems like an extremely light punishment.  We know though it was not a bomb hoax, and Ahmed simply created a digital clock that he wanted to impress his teachers with, so why was he punished? If you're not allowed to bring a digital clock into school, then why are we allowed to bring a digital watch? It's the same concept, just in a smaller package. If they're concerned with it being used as a bomb trigger, then why can we bring cell phones into school? Cell phones could, and are typically used in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as a trigger.  Besides how convenient it is to use a cellphone as a trigger, it doesn't neglect the fact that most people are carrying a potential make-shift bomb in their pockets. The lithium ion batteries in most smartphones, if overheated or overcharged, have the potential to explode. Now some manufactures have recently been producing batteries with built in safeguards to prevent a potential catastrophic detonation, but not every battery is the same, and there is a potential for defective batteries.

To recap, their actions out of thinking it was a potential bomb threat, or hoax, might of been justified if some peoples eyes, but the action afterwards, continuing punishment after it was just identified as a clock, and giving Ahmed a 3 day suspension because he brought a digital clock to school is unjustified. If they were truly scared of the clocks potential to be used for a bomb, many items carried around by most students, such as cellphones, would have to be banned.

Links:

• http://www.livescience.com/50643-watch-lithium-battery-explode.html
• http://www.officer.com/article/10250461/cell-phone-bombs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMy2_qNO2Y0

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