Crime Defense

Teachers and their supporters have developed numerous defenses that have become overused. These defenses almost seem conditioned due to their tendency to show up just about every time that they encounter the appropriate trigger.

Trigger:

The crime defense is not very predictable in when exactly it will come up, but usually involves questions regarding the quality of people who come up through the schools or questions regarding the need to graduate everyone.

Argument:

If we can keep children in school, they will be less likely to become criminals. This makes schooling a vital part of the war against crime.

Flaws:

The argument relies on the idea that it seems like dropouts are more likely to commit crimes than graduates. Numbers are never provided to back the claim, so there is no way to know whether or not it is actually true. Even if the core argument is true, several issues can skew the numbers in favor of the schools. There are mechanisms in place that inflate the crime rate for dropouts, which is very different from reducing crime rates among graduates. Looking at the bigger picture, an increased reliance on the schools has been completely ineffective at reducing the crime rate.

Related Misconception:

Misconception #19: Schooling is effective at reducing crime rates