My take on Ahmed Mohamed and his clock
First off, it's no surprise anymore that a generally authoritarian mindset took the stage; it's America in the post-9/11 era. But along with letting Ahmed be cuffed and expelled from school, the fact that in an educational environment supposedly run by folks with some degree of reasoning, an orderly examination of the hideous-bomb-thing-in a pencil case didn't take place instead of the equivalent of running around in tight little circles, arms waving overhead and piss running down pants-legs.
Now, I have to admit - I believe the project could have been a little more involved, perhaps using a breadboarded circuit with timing components and a 7 segment LED display driver. It appears to be mostly composed of pieces extricated from another clock and re-attached, with a dangerous looking electrical taped wire junction at the AC line voltage step-down transformer. If there was any potential danger to be seen here, it would have presented itself there in the form of 110 volts AC.
A very short point-to-point explanation by Ahmed of the few components should have assured anyone that it had been assembled by a budding engineer and not a terrorist. At least one other teacher was there who could have verified the clock's function easily. But let's duck and cover instead and traumatize the poor kid.
It sounds to me as if a transfer away from this school would have been a good idea for the purpose of accessing a better level of educators along with some who are not as squinty-eyed suspicious of Muslims.
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