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As a junior this year at a Pine Crest School, a prep academy of about 700 students in Fort Lauderdale, Hassan studied writers like John McPhee in the book "The New Journalism," an introduction to immersion journalism — a writer who lives the life of his subject in order to better understand it.

Diving headfirst into an assignment, Hassan, whose parents were born in Iraq but have lived in the United States for about 35 years, hung out at a local mosque. The teen, who says he has no religious affiliation, added that he even spent an entire night until 6 a.m. talking politics with a group of Muslim men, a level of "immersion" his teacher characterized as dangerous and irresponsible.

Why would that be dangerous? It's a religion of peace, after all. Didn't the teacher properly read the No Child Left Behind educational guidelines?

"Didn't the teacher properly read the No Child Left Behind educational guidelines?"

As if you had? Nothing in NCLB about religion of peace, FRiend. All it says, basically, is we're supposed to test them, and find out if they really learned anything, then report the results. "dangerous and irresponsible" indeed.

On the other hand, I think the kid needs to find a poker game, and see if he has any luck left. I bet his guardian angel is in for a wing-joint overhaul right now.

I was thinking the same thing. Can you imagine anyone thinking that simply discussing politics with someone at a church or synagogue would be "dangerous and irresponsible"?