Gaston Caperton

President, College Board

Did you have career aspirations? What did you want to do?

Well I don’t think had huge aspirations as a kid. As a person who found school pretty hard – because I’m learning disabled – I think I was just focused enough on getting through that class and that year. And I think that one of the things that I really, really believe in is that you just sort of need year-to-year goals.

Now when you went to school, did you feel learning challenged from the beginning?

Well, when I was in the fourth grade, my parents got a phone call from my fourth grade teachers telling them I can’t read. My dad took me to an eye doctor to see if maybe something was wrong with my eyes. This doctor said “you’re son has dyslexia” but he didn’t call it dyslexia – because nobody knew what it was – he basically said “you’re son has reversal problem”. So school was very challenging to me.

But you ended up going to the University of N. Carolina…?

Oh sure. I did well enough to get into a good college, I did well enough to graduate from a good college. And those things that were difficult for me when I was in school aren’t nearly as important once you get out into the real world. And some of those qualities that made me good in my work that didn’t help me much in school all began to become something that helped me.

Now when you got out of college…how did you look towards career?

Well actually I went back to W. VA where I was from. I went to work for a small insurance that my father and three other partners owned and I started out selling insurance door to door. Probably the most important job I ever had. Every year I did the best I could and what I was able to do and I was eventually able to buy my father and his partners out and I built that into the 10th largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm in the country.

Now when did you sort of decide that politics was something you wanted to pursue?

I began to sense that my life would be purposeful and that I should do something in public service. And so I decided I’d run for governor. I ran for the right reasons because I really wanted to change my state. It really needed to be turned around in many many ways and I was willing to take the risk that you had to take. So we had a really successful 8 years…it was a wonderful time in my life.

Were there challenges, or holes in the road, problems that you ran into?

Oh absolutely. I don’t think we learn much in our life when things are going smooth. I think in anything that anybody does whether it’s in school, in work, or in family you have tough times. You always run into bumpy roads. And I think its those times that you really develop your courage, you develop your determination, you develop your compassion.

Now when you left the governorship…you moved into education?

I was a learning disabled kid and I learned how important education was. I was asked to come up to Harvard and to speak to the new congressman. When I was up there they asked me would I like to take a fellowship at the school of Economics. And that was a perfect opportunity for me. While I was there I was offered an opportunity to come to Columbia Univ at their school of Education and I taught there for a year and a half. Then I was offered the opportunity to come to the College Board.

Now you’ve expanded the College Board into other areas is that correct?

Yea the mission of the College Board is to connect students to college success. We want to think of it as a gateway. So the Advanced Placement program – to the individual student – is a great opportunity to take a HS course and get a college credit. But even more important is when you bring an AP program in a comprehensive basis to a HS - it really brings rigor to that school.

How do you feel about sort of the state of American HS students?

I’ll give you two statistics that concern me – 30% of students don’t finish HS…of those who are in the 9th grade, about 36% of those will go to college - of those less than 25% will graduate from college. Now if you were third-world country, you would be concerned about those figures. In the USA, you should be real concerned. We can’t be the world leader and give the people opportunities they need if we don’t have more students prepared to go to college.

How did you sort of develop this positive self-image and how long did that take?

Oh I think it takes a lifetime. I think all of us have times that we doubt that we’re very capable. Or can we do the next thing or next job we have. I have always been a person that believes tomorrow is going to be better than today. I’m born with what some people call a positive view of the world and I think that’s carried me a long way. You know life is…steps. And it takes…you just got to keep walking up those steps.