I was very concerned recently to read of your school being forced to evacuate after finding a suspicious device in the backpack of one of your students, as reported here:
I realize that the press often distorts facts in order to better fit their own narrative, but the idea that a child at a technical magnet school is being embarrassed at a school-wide level for doing experimental technical work in his own time is extremely worrying. The suggestion that he is being sent for "counselling" is even harder to believe.
As I'm certain you're aware, America has an ongoing problem with adequate science education, a problem schools like yours are meant to correct. This kind of hysterical overreaction is only going to discourage children from building their own devices, and from creative play in general. It is part of a deeply worrying anti-science trend in this country, and I hope you agree that the real changes needed here are at the administrative level, to prevent these kinds of misunderstandings from getting so out of hand in future.
Hello -
I was very concerned recently to read of your school being forced to evacuate after finding a suspicious device in the backpack of one of your students, as reported here:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/15/students-evac...
I realize that the press often distorts facts in order to better fit their own narrative, but the idea that a child at a technical magnet school is being embarrassed at a school-wide level for doing experimental technical work in his own time is extremely worrying. The suggestion that he is being sent for "counselling" is even harder to believe.
As I'm certain you're aware, America has an ongoing problem with adequate science education, a problem schools like yours are meant to correct. This kind of hysterical overreaction is only going to discourage children from building their own devices, and from creative play in general. It is part of a deeply worrying anti-science trend in this country, and I hope you agree that the real changes needed here are at the administrative level, to prevent these kinds of misunderstandings from getting so out of hand in future.
Sincerely, Laurie Voss.