Ben Carson asked a bunch of fifth-graders “who the worst student is” and about a dozen kids pointed to one of their classmates.
The Des Moines Register reports that Carson chuckled and then said, “Well, let me tell you, if you had asked that question in my classroom, there would have been no doubt” because it would have been him.
The interaction went as follows:
Carson: As a fifth grade student, I was a horrible student. Anybody here in fifth grade?
[Large group of students raise their hands]
Carson: Who’s the worst student? Now…
[sees fingers being pointed]
Carson: Well, let me tell you, if you had asked that question in my classroom, there would have been no doubt.
Carson’s childhood message has been a large part of his campaign story including his transformation from a struggling student to a world-renown neurosurgeon.
After the rally at Isaac Newton Christian Academy, Carson met with the kid, identified as 10-year old Seth Blackford.
Blackford — who said if he was old enough to vote, he would vote for Carson — brushed off the attention saying, “I was laughing.”
In Blackford’s private meeting with Carson after the event Carson told him, “So you know what we want for you right? You’re going to be a neurosurgeon, okay.”
“But all you have to do is to turn it around, is read okay. And I just started reading and I got to the point where it was my favorite thing in life. It didn’t take long before I knew more than all those people who said I would be dumb, okay. So you do that too, okay.”
After the event, Carson told the Des Moines Register, “I figured people would be pointing around to all different people who they didn’t like.”