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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.
It scares me shitless that my kindergartner could be kicked out of school for folding his hands and saying bang in this insane and litigious age.
Then I should have my own Moon base considering the "experiments" I did at that age!
I agree that it was ludicrous that she was charged with a felony, but at the same time I don't think its right that she is getting handsomely rewarded for an action that was unauthorized and not allowed.
I believe rules are rules and you break them, you should be punished, not rewarded. In this case, thanks the publicity, she is greatly benefitting from breaking the rules. This sets a bad example to the youth of our nation that rulebreaking can pay.
amazing news, congrats for the kid.
I'll ask him to say hello and give our good wishes. October Sky is one of our favourite films and let's hope Kiera does as well as Homer Hickam did despite his early escapades.
I'm glad to see that at least some people have morals. Wanting to experiment with science and NOT hurting anyone in the process shouldn't be met by being kicked out of school, she's getting what she deserves.
Compare with http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/3-teens-arrested-in-blasts-at-Bakersfield-school-4542656.php
If you build a bomb, using a recipe right out of the Anarchist's Cookbook, and set it off at a school, you can escape any consequences if you play the minority card.
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.
It gives me a warm glow that things worked out this way.
Now if the warden of a local maximum security prison were to start a crowd-funding campaign, I'd be willing to sponsor a short stay in jail for those that brought charges against this curious schoolgirl.
Requiem for the American Dream
I've always had a high respect for Mr. Hickam, and I'm really glad to hear this is happening. Couple this with the viral video of the kid who told off his world history teacher, and you've the makings of a rebellion against the factory-style approach that politicians are foisting upon public education.
This could get interesting, and for the better.
Rules bools gools ... you need permission bytch to take a crap? No ?? Sound like gub'mnt brownshirt thugs gonna lublublub the blojobs you pass out.
Black / Hispanic civil rights group = OK
White civil rights group = Racist
I am not white but I can clearly see the problem.
New Economic Perspectives
This case sets a good example/excuse for the law makers and administrators to tighten up the rules to be more draconian so kids can't pull these stunts again.
I wouldn't be surprised if schools consider banning tin foil.
The difference between now and then is that the business of government is twice as large. The larger the government, the more "crimes" per year, the more "criminals" per population, and the more "justification" for the next expansion of power and revenue.
What she made wasn't really a science experiment; it was a "bottle bomb" consisting of mixing tinfoil and Drano in a Coke bottle. These explosives are well-known among schoolyard pranksters and can cause serious injury (chemical burns, loss of fingers, etc.)
It's not politically correct to say, but if she was cooking one of these up on school property with her friends without teacher oversight, she should have been punished. As long as she didn't actually hurt anyone, though, it should have amounted into a few days' detention at worst.
That said, I'm happy she's going to space camp and that this sort of mischief might develop into a real interest in science.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
I'm glad I grew up when I did.. if I even did 1/3 of the crap today that I did back in my childhood, I wouldn't be in federal prison, I'd be in Guantanamo... Everything from making real IED's (not bottle cap explosions / minor pipebombs.. but real explosives), to self-learning the practices of SERE.. it would have been portrayed that I was being taught by a terrorist network.
In the bid for ratings, the media conglomorate keeps sensationlizing the bad stuff, instilling fear into the majority of the American public, while giving a reason to the lunatics of today to go "shoot up a school" for their 5 minutes of fame. This in turns leads to almost no resistance for the government to, one the minor spectrum, bend our rights, and on the other end of the spectrum, do away with them altogether, while we, the American public, agree with what they're doing since it "protects" us.
Looking back, I'm kinda glad that I learned what I did, when I did, if I ever need to use it again - should the unthinkable happen (ie: Police state).
The kid partakes in an unauthorized, explosive "experiment" she saw on Youtube, claims it's a "science experiment," where no teacher knew about it, it was not during nor for any class she was taking, did not observe any material safety protocols, and could have harmed others, and she's being rewarded.
You know, I'm getting fucking sick and tired of facts being determined by the court of public opinion. The published facts of this case support charges for explosive device making, endangering others, and many, many more.
It's time we started making very loud and angry noises about zero tolerance being utterly unacceptable[1]. Students need the freedom to screw up in the pursuit of fooling around with some learning.
Things need to be exploded, burnt, and launched. Children need to have the freedom to throw balls at each other, wrestle, and do other dangerous things. Criminalizing mistakes and foolishness is as near fascist behavior as I have ever heard.
Tomfoolery for all, everywhere!
[1] Don't make a false equivalency between things that look scary and acts that are harmful.
Those poor Boston marathon bombers? They were simply mixing chemicals together because they were curious. They added a bunch of nails in there because they were into carpentry too.
I fail to see how this frame proves it rob ford, lots of fat blond men look like him.
...eat his hat for this! He must be turning red in his face like a ripe tomato.
Liquid nitrogen will do the same thing.
As an intern at NASA Ames during summer break, I thought it would be fun to do a little experiment on the expansion of gas inside a contained vessel. So I put a small amount of LN2 into a 2-liter cola bottle and set it in an unoccupied back parking lot surrounded by 3-story, nearly windowless buildings. As the LN2 changes to gaseous form, the bottle began to expand, almost in-noticeably. After a minute or two, the glued on, wrap around label snapped off, and few seconds later, I heard one of the loudest bangs that I have ever heard in my life.
Before I knew what was happening, we were surrounded by MPs. But before the situation got out of hand, my Senior Researcher came out of the building to explain to the worried guards that this was merely a case of an ignorant intern forgetting to remove the cap before disposing of the harmless liquid. There were some stern looks, but that was the end of it. Unsurprisingly, I was not charged with a felony.
Lesson learned: don't blow up things on NASA bases. I think I can live with that.
You know who else liked to experiment?
Mengele!
So a gross miscarriage of justice is averted. Now it's time to sack all those involved.
And while we are at it the same penalty should be administered to those who involved in charging Kaitlyn Hunt with two felony counts for having consensual lesbian sex with her high school mate.
What is it about Florida anyway?
You can find him at www.homerhickam.com
I lived very near Kennedy Airport (Rosedale Queens NY), and used to shoot Estes rockets at the airplanes!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Scientific exploration has always, throughout human history, mostly been driven by simple human curiosity and willingness to try new things. Sometimes it ends badly, sometimes as in a couple of shuttle flights, heroes perish, but what's the alternative? Condemning ourselves to boring, unimproved existences where nothing ever changes.
Our society should thrive upon, celebrate, and foster that sense of brave, creative curiosity. Not punish it.
I am German and I lived and worked in the US for 7 years, also traveled all over the place from Alaska to Key West, Maine to Hawaii.
I soon found out, much to my surprise, that Germany is MUCH less concerned about rules than the US. It is also much more individualistic. Also, in the US the climate is much more "respect uniforms" than in Germany. It seems the two countries reversed roles after WWII.
That said, Americans are much more polite, they respect parents and children (in Germany trying to get rid of a "noisy kindergarten" in the neighborhood is not uncommon, or finding that other customers in restaurants get infuriated even by NORMAL children behavior, I'm not talking about out of control children), I can occasionally have conversations in web forums with people I 100% disagree with (in Germany it's 99% a shouting match without any conversation - yes, WORSE than Dems/Reps). Lots of good and bad on both sides. I liked living in the US, I like living in Germany - I would probably like it in any other place (if good food and a mostly intact environment are available).
Yes, German pedestrians DO wait for green light on a road in the middle of nowhere at 5am, no car to be heard or seen for miles (no joke, I've seen it repeatedly). However, in cases such as the one discussed here and in other more important areas they are much less likely to quietly accept authority. Also, they are less impressed by uniforms and police than Americans. That's just how it is, whether or not that's good or bad depends on the concrete circumstances.
This is not to say that I think this teenager committed a crime, personally I do not. When I went to school, there was Detention and then there was the big all day on Saturday detention. Personally I don't think this young lady should have been expelled, or even suspended. Two full all day detentions where she has to clean toilets, bathrooms, desks, buses, etc... would have sufficed.
Certainly, after that incident the school should have made an announcement that the situation was not considered acceptable without permission / supervision from a chemistry teacher. And then any future situations of a similar nature would result in a x #no of day(s) suspension. And a repeat offender, expulsion.
This would encourage students to be curious and cautious by approaching the appropriate teacher and getting guidance and permission.
School is for curiosity and learning. Students make mistakes but it shouldn't stay with them for the rest of their academic lives.
Hell if a teenager kills someone, their name is usually kept from the papers, they go to juvenile detention and their records are sealed at 18. This one young lady experiments with some chemical house hold items and she's persecuted across America by those who insist on zero tolerance.
Folks, I don't want to see people get hurt unnecessarily, but we learn from our mistakes, let us make them without persecution forever.
Zero-tolerance is the destruction of basic human nature and most of all COMMON SENSE. Every situation is different, Every student is different, treat them differently.
Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
Getting close the 30 years ago, my friends and I got sprung pocketing magnesium strips from the High School lab. Punishment? The chem teacher walked away, wordlessly, then came back with a coil of tungsten wire, dropped it on the bench muttering quietly something about "applying enough voltage to ingite".
Not one of us turned into terrorists. But three out of four became engineers (me the only abstainer).
The charges were NOT dropped. She signed a diversion plan with the courts, which requires pleading guilty and establishing a probation routine. There are hefty monthly fees for this process and missing even one of them is grounds for ending up back in court to face the criminal charges directly. There are numerous other ways that the probationary agreement can be "violated" --drug testing the main method-- that will also land the defense back in court. Even if the diversion plan is completed, the records don't necessarily get sealed immediately, leaving them still open to background checks where this pops up, which is exactly what people think they are avoiding when they plead guilty and enter diversion plans.
This is not justice and it is certainly not "curiosity rewarded," not by society at large at least. This is Homer Hickam calling bullshit when he sees it and trying to provide this poor girl with a silver lining that might just cancel out some of the negative effects of this incident.
The putative reason for designating the Works and Drano "bombs" and the dry ice "bomb as criminal destructive devices is to stop terrorism, but it's little more than laziness on the part of legislatures. Objects shouldn't be criminalized, only what you intend to do or in-fact do with them. Even if one could argue that objects themselves should be outlawed, there has to be some sort of proportionality that defines the punishment based on it's destructive potential (a device made of a plastic bottle than can contain 80-120 psi in a volume of 2 liters or less like a soda bottle is of little use to terrorist. However, a destructive device using something like an air compressor shell is something different, as that can contain 250 or more psi in a metallic shrapnel creating body which has a volume of 8-16 liters. That has real destructive capability.).
Personally, I think if you blow up your own beater car in an empty field and do no other harm? It shouldn't be illegal (with littering charges if they leave the burnt carcass behind instead of properly disposing of it). But if you harm someone else then throw the book at 'em. A kid blowing-out a soda bottle in their back yard may be due a lecture but a kid destroying a neighbor's mailbox should be forced to pay restitution and do community service and perhaps should be into a Summer science program to teach them some respect for the chemistry and forces involved. Putting them in jail will probably lead to them sharing the wealth of their knowledge with other kids who will find new and ingenious ways of using that knowledge for mischievous ends . . .Unfortunately, in the criminal justice system, the only tool they seem to have is to imprison people and if the only tool you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail. A damn shame really as we're criminalizing ingenuity and smothering our children's potential with fear.
Her adventurous Spirit is an example for all of us.
The girl mixed two types of chemicals in a small water bottle. Its not unlike putting pop rocks or mentos into a bottle of coca cola, and capping it. It pressures up, the plastic cap pops off and instead of soda coming out, you get a bit of white smoke. A real explosion is the gasoline/air mixture in the engine of your car. *THAT* is a big explosion. Except that the administrators don't look at it that way. It doesn't matter that popping a balloon makes more noise. It doesn't matter that there was no property damage. It doesn't matter that no one was hurt, shaken up, or otherwise affected (not even sticky pop). That doesn't matter. A small chemical reaction occurred. Curiosity was satisfied, but rules were broken. The rules are clear, anyone not following the rules must be killed. There is no leeway in the rules. Now it all comes down to the purpose of education. If the purpose of education is to educate, to teach students, to have them learn, be inquisitive of the world and adapt to it, then the education at this school is a joke. The science teacher could have explained the reaction, and the administrators could have warned about safety and not mixing chemicals without first knowing what they do, and not doing it on school property. But that's not what happened. The administrators are people who sit and administer. The reason we have courts and judges instead of just laws is that the law is flexible and not stupid. Assinine rules are what administrators administer. They aren't interested in education. They are interested in creating machines that operate in a very fixed, controlled way. The run a factory creating industrial robots. Curiosity must be eradicated! Self expression will not be tolerated! Its a draconian system the administrators have set up. They have built a silo in the name of safety. Anything outside of what they decide to be normal is unforgivable. A system like that is easily gamed, and they deserve to be gamed.
Homer Hickam! YOU RULE! May the Universe expand in your favor! Hope restored :)