It takes a lot to shock me these days, but Bob Kingsbury, a representative in New Hampshire, managed to get a "Say what?!" out of me when he said that sending kids to Kindergarten leads to higher crimerate.
Hmm. Last I remember, kindergarten was the kind of place that taught the alphabet, sharing, and some important socialization skills. It wasn't about packing pistols or the 101 of stealing. My son is an only child, and who knows how he'd turn out without learning lessons in friendship and the foundation of math and reading in his kindergarten classroom.
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Kingsbury would say that my son and anyone who attended kindergarten were taken "away from their mothers too soon."
How did the 86-year-old Kingsbury come up with this ridiculous conclusion? Kingsbury explains his methodology, which he's apparently he's sharing since 1996 to the Huffington Post::
The source I have is, I went to the Department of Education and got a list of kindergartens and I went to the safety department and got the crime report. … In general, the towns with a kindergarten have 400 percent more crime than other towns in the same county. In every county, the towns and cities with kindergarten had more crime.
Apparently, Laconia, his hometown and the largest community in Belknap County, has the highest rate of rapes, robberies, assaults and murders. Laconia also has the only kindergarten program in the county. Go figure, right? NOT!
This screams of shoddy "research" and an unfounded–and ridiculous–conclusion.
Do you agree with Bob Kingsbury? Do you think you've created a criminal by sending your child to kindergarten?
Image via Vlad B/flickr
