i think it wasn't right because the facts show that this was based on fear of his religion and his associations, rather than with reality, and that if someone else had been in this situation and presented this suspicious clock, we would've never heard about it because it would've ended in the classroom
"what is that?"
"it's a clock"
end of story.
I haven't actually really bothered looking into it very much, but I believe it's come up a few times that the kid showed it to his Engineering teacher and then just hid it away till it started beeping and he had to take it out. If he'd at least had the foresight to actually make it clear to people what it is, or even to simply toss it in his locker after showing the teacher, there'd have been no issue. I've brought a pretty wide variety of things into school for shows and tell or whatever (I've brought in swords, actually, for real), and the first thing I always did was make sure with the administration that it was cool and that they knew what was up when I brought the whatever in.
As a side note, I think by 14 one should have the worldliness to recognise the possible repercussions of bring in a suitcase with numbers on the front with his heritage and environment in mind.
but honestly, are they really 14 year old middle class students? do you think that? is it possible that maybe terrorists aren't perfect? is it possible that this is an assumption based out of fear more than reason?
The kids don't necessarily have to be terrorists, although I definitely don't see any reason why they couldn't be. There have been plenty of stories about kids out of Britain being led to "the call of Allah" or whatever. But the kids don't even necessarily have to be the terrorists themselves, they could just be simply influenced by someone else, family or a friend. They could have simply been threatened into performing an attack. This isn't particularly uncommon either, so it's not at all unreasonable to be suspicious of someone even if they are a kid.
once again, he left his backpack around a lot. i did too. never an issue. i think he also played clarinet in middle school so he probably left that case in the band room a couple of times.
Backpacks or little instrument cases are a lot less likely to be mistaken for a bomb that a suitcase with a numerical readout.
just to note real quick, if you'll notice, i haven't called taboo an "idiot" or a "simpleton", or tried some ad-hominem attack. and thus, he has not said the same back to me. debating doesn't have to be petty.
It helps that I know you're legitimately intelligent person capable of good debate.
