Originally published in The Austin American Statesman
The news of 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed being arrested in Irving for bringing a homemade clock to school is disturbing on many levels. The fact that he showed it to his teachers as an accomplishment should have vouched for the fact that it wasn’t mischief. It is equally as disturbing that when it was clearly established to be a clock, the teen was handcuffed and arrested. Furthermore the school suspended him for three days.
If our educators who are supposed to encourage curiosity are instead inspiring fear and suspicion among their students, we have some serious soul-searching to do. It was heartwarming to see the outpour of support from President Obama, Hillary Clinton and others across the country. Hopefully the show of support will be enough to heal his emotional scars from this incident.
