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Curiosity Rewarded: Florida Teen Heading to Space Camp, Not Jail

Kiera Wilmot, the Florida high school student who was expelled from her school after an unauthorized science experiment was misperceived as a weapon (at least for purposes of arrest and charging), won't be going to jail. She will, though, be going to Space Camp, thanks to a crowdfunding campaign started by author and former NASA engineer Homer Hickham. All charges against her have been dropped.

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  1. in my class by slashmydots · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In my high school chemistry class, we made gunpowder (which someone accidentally shattered a mortar and pestle with) and hydrogen mini-rockets (we filled ours with butane and put a hole in the ceiling tiles) and that was called a chapter in the book, not a crime. Though unlike the media, I think the difference isn't that I'm white, it's that that school district and police department is full of complete morons.

  2. Re:Good to see intelligence rewarded for once. by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "NO EXCEPTIONS TO RULES EVER" is the most important message schools can teach to kids.

    That is actually the rule that public schools were set up to teach kids. That the kids who go to public schools are to follow the rules and do what their "betters" tell them to do. Now the children of those "betters" go to private schools and receive different lessons.

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison