A for Ahmed, B for bomb, C for clock

Not that I am very keen, except maybe for a selfie with the doorman to the envy of my Facebook friends, I have over the past week discovered a sure way to be invited to the White House; more so because of Mark Zuckerberg's  interest in the most ridiculous of science-related stories.

Make an ordinary clock with the intelligence of an average Asian, take it to the school classroom, make sure beforehand that your teacher is an idiot (better still, also xenophobic), explain that clocks also go tick-tock, and with a name like Ahmed Mohamed, you are laughing all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

Those of you who have starry-eyed ambitions to pursue engineering education in the States, it may help you to reconsider before filling up the visa form that the first tutor who got to see the gadget he made (it was a clock) was ninth grader Ahmed Mohamed's engineering teacher, who said it was nice (how sweet!) but then told him he should not show the invention to other teachers.Why? Maybe because it looked suspicious from an engineering point of view.

Ahmed is only 14-years old, an impressionable age when the best among them strive to make an impression. The large briefcase-size clock was a contraption of wires, screws, electrical bits and pieces, and had its circuit board and a digital display.

Alarm bells rang across Dallas' MacArthur High School  on  September 14, when Ahmed's device started beeping during his English class and the teacher, being no engineer (hah!), thought it was "possibly the infrastructure for a bomb";  the school notified the police, and the Muslim teenager was handcuffed, detained and interrogated by officers.

Further damage to America's efforts to play down Islamophobia was controlled by a spontaneous tweet from Barack Obama, "Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great." The president's message was retweeted almost 400,000 times within the first 18 hours.

Now Ahmed will be at the South Lawn of the White House rubbing shoulders with scientists, engineers, astronauts, teachers (I hope not his English teacher) and other students on Astronomy Night on October 19, where he may hopefully continue to seek support for every other kid in the world who has a problem like this.

Ahmed was Ahmed at a news conference last Wednesday outside his home in Irving, and not bogged down by the fact that the police still had his clock, greeting a bevy of reporters with 'Aassalamulaiukum'. Traumatised as he is, Ahmed told a newspaper on video:  "It made me feel like I wasn't human. It made me feel like I was a criminal."

I am buoyed by social network comments from ordinary (yes non-Muslim) Americans, who simply abhorred the treatment meted out to Ahmed. From awful to devastating, from sad to abomination, from outrageous to insulting, from ignorant to stupidity.

Posted Jordan Bumgarneron on Facebook:"One of the greatest men I know is a Muslim, and I'm a Christian and we are very good friends. Ironic huh? Stereotypes are tearing this country apart."

Says MzKim Melvin: "The paranoia in this country is sickening! What are they going to charge him with being too smart for his ignorant Teacher?"

Wrote Vanessa Jane Warren: "This country is full of idiots including this jealous teacher!!! Praying for this child."

From Priscilla Chavarry: "He needs a job at NASA now. And Fire his racist *** teacher!!! … He's a kid!! He should have been able to trust his teacher. They're supposed to be mentors for our kids!! Not racist snitches going against them!!"

Danira Alihodzic posted: "The look on his face (while arrested) is breaking my heart! Is this how we reward a child who is advanced for his age?! Had he been white American, he would've made the town paper for a different reason entirely! It's nearly 2016 for the love of God!"

"Further evidence that racism and ignorance go hand in hand," wrote M Catherine Hazelton.

Stephanie Thomas Lmt thinks, "This poor kid, he's probably a genius & he's being 'taught' by ass hats..."

Says Joy Mitchell: "The teacher needs to have his teaching certificate revoked and criminal charges levelled against him. The cop who arrested him should also be fired. I hope this young man knows not everyone feels like those two asses do. Sue the school, go to college on the money and live well. Oh, and I'm Jewish!"

As for me, a teacher who does not know a clock from a bomb, or more importantly his/her student from a terrorist, SHOULD NOT TEACH.

The writer is a practising Architect at BashaBari Ltd., a Commonwealth Scholar and a Fellow, a Baden-Powell Fellow Scout Leader, and a Major Donor Rotarian.