This should help to make sure that we can compete internationally for creating good scientists. I am very happy that I made it through school when I did and not today.
Slashdot points us to the story of an 11-year-old student who tried to build his own motion-detector system as a science project, and when he brought it to school to show people, school officials thought it was a bomb and freaked out. They called the police, evacuated the school and all of the expected chaos followed. Law enforcement even brought in a robot to examine the device, and the student's house was searched for explosives (none found, of course). After all of this (and it was said that the student and his parents were "very cooperative" throughout the ordeal) you might think the family deserves an apology. Instead:
The student will not be prosecuted, but authorities were recommending that he and his parents get counseling, the spokesman said. The student violated school policies, but there was no criminal intent....
I'm trying to figure out what "policies" could have been violated, and why it would require that he and his parents get counseling. It wasn't the kid who did anything wrong. It was the school officials who freaked out. Perhaps they should be the ones to seek counseling?
May the devil be the judge
--Flogging Molly