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US Republican President candidate Dr. Ben Carson speaks at Liberty University, on November 11, 2015 in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is known for saying some peculiar things. On Thursday morning, however, while giving a speech at the Isaac Newton Christian School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, it was a question that ended up mortifying at least one student who was attending the assembly, the Des Moines Register reported.
According to Des Moines Register reporter Timothy Meinch, Carson, apparently as a joke, called out to the 5th grade class, asking them, “Who’s the worst kid in class?” intending to reflect on how he felt in grade school. However, before the presidential candidate could get to the point of his joke, at least half a dozen kids pointed to one student in particular.
W/ crowd of 500 @RealBenCarson just called out to 5th grade class: who’s dumbest kid in class? At least half dozen kids point to 1 student.
— Timothy Meinch (@timeinch) January 7, 2016
The student in question, 10-year-old Seth Blackford, reportedly turned red at the exchange, but brushed it off with humor.
“I was laughing,” he told Meinch after the event, adding that he’d vote for Carson if he could.
The report notes that Carson later met with Seth backstage, encouraging him to become a neurosurgeon.
“You’re going to be a neurosurgeon, OK?” Carson told the young child. “All you have to do is turn it around.”
As for Seth’s mother, she wasn’t impressed with the comments, disappointed at the candidate, but said that it wouldn’t stop her from supporting Carson either, the Des Moines Register notes.
“As a mother, it kind of saddens me that [Seth] would be pointed out like that,” she said. “Knowing Seth, I think he’d take it in stride.”
Read more at the Des Moines Register.
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