Girl charged with felony after experimenting with chemistry

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Joined: 31 Oct 2011
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03 May 2013, 11:47 pm

I can very much agree with how natural interest in chemistry is being killed by schools. If you want a high paying job get into chemistry young, the younger the better.

ruveyn
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04 May 2013, 6:45 pm

Spiderpig wrote:

Thus killing little kids’ interest in chemistry, so they never perform experiments such as this. Problem solved!

Killing the interest and natural curiosity of youngsters is what our public schools excel at.

ruveyn

redriverronin
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06 May 2013, 8:12 pm

exactaly learning and thinking are becoming serious crimes in this country real fast

BlueMax
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07 May 2013, 1:56 am

I was hoping this would be the story of a young, misguided genius like the "Radioactive Boy Scout" (great story - look it up!)

...instead it was some careless, curious kid mixing household chemicals at near-random. Not much more clever than Mentos & Diet Pepsi.

zer0netgain
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12 May 2013, 8:06 am

ruveyn wrote:

If there was no criminal intent in doing the experiment, how can criminal charges be brought. At worst, the kids parents should pay for any damage done. It purely a tort, not a felony.

Zero tolerance BS.

Frankly, kids get into science when you let them blow stuff up. They are stripping science down to boring Nerf experiments (joke, not literal experiments with Nerf(tm) products), making it too dull a subject to hold people's attention.

Katlady485
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17 May 2013, 8:26 am

Basically, I would have just told her to clean up her mess and maybe give her detention. A felony charge is just too much.

momsparky
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17 May 2013, 2:05 pm

Looks like felony charges have been dropped - but she still may face expulsion. Again, I consider that over the top for this kind of an offense.

ruveyn
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17 May 2013, 2:44 pm

As I have said. The felony charges won't stick unless criminal intent is shown.

momsparky
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17 May 2013, 2:48 pm

ruveyn wrote:

As I have said. The felony charges won't stick unless criminal intent is shown.

Problem is, with a minor, it could be relatively easy to manufacture circumstances that look like intent - which is why minors are supposed to be protected.

ruveyn
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17 May 2013, 2:54 pm

momsparky wrote:

ruveyn wrote:

As I have said. The felony charges won't stick unless criminal intent is shown.

Problem is, with a minor, it could be relatively easy to manufacture circumstances that look like intent - which is why minors are supposed to be protected.

If the kid had proper representation there was no way a felony charge would stick.

greengeek
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24 May 2013, 9:11 am

PresidentPorpoise wrote:

Safety is a pretty integral part of scientific experiments, and when I was in high school, every chemistry class I took involved having to sign a paper with a nice long list of safety rules and a lame decades-old video about lab safety replete with horrible puns and poor production values.

Was that video possibly on Film or LaserDisc?

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Fnord
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24 May 2013, 9:40 am

The felony charges have been dropped against Ms. Wilmot, and she has received a scholarship from NASA.

< Link to Article >

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greengeek
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24 May 2013, 9:43 am

Zero Tolerance is a really bad idea, as it doesn't allow any leeway, and usually does result in extreme punishment. For example let's say that somebody started strangling people and kicking them to death, along with biting people. Zero Tolerance would probably require people to be toothless basket-cases, as limbs and teeth can be used as weapons. Also isn't the South known for being extremely racist still, as the racists didn't either emigrate to South Africa, or get forced to move there by the federal government, in the 1960s as South Africa was still extremely racist until the '90s? Also don't Southerners usually show a lower level of intelligence and thinking?

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greengeek
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24 May 2013, 9:46 am

Spiderpig wrote:

Thus killing little kids’ interest in chemistry, so they never perform experiments such as this. Problem solved!

Or make it appear to be something for the Indians and Chinese to do. That maybe why we don't generate many science people.

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Gamati
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24 May 2013, 10:42 pm

Excellent! She's escaped, and can now begin the acquisition of a real education. I myself only survived just barely, and even then, by ignoring everything my teachers told me. Ramen.

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gamefreak
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24 May 2013, 11:26 pm

Whats interesting is that this happened in my home town, at the HS I would have attended if I stayed there. It was also the same HS a lot of my extended family went to.

I do however think the treatment of this girls is harsh. Just an example of taking zero tolerance to the extreme, really how could she hurt someone.

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