Tom Begley Director of the UCD Graduate School of Business
Where did you go to school?Our Lady of Hope elementary school and Cathedral High School, Springfield, Massachusetts, US.
What was your best subject?History.
What was your worst subject?Art. I couldn't draw to save my life and more paint ended up on my uniform than on the paper.
If you could put a new subject on the Leaving Cert, what would it be?How not to get so stressed out by the pressure of the Leaving Cert and how to realise that your young life is not over if you do not score maximum points.
What was your earliest career ambition?To be a pipefitter for Springfield Gas Light Co, like my father.
Who was your favourite teacher and why?One of the teaching nuns who, on the last day of eighth grade, smacked the biggest wise-guy in the class so hard he went sprawling, then said, "I've been wanting to do that all year".
Who was your childhood idol?John F Kennedy. I was nine when he was elected president and my parents let us stay up all night watching the election.
What TV programme/film most reminds you of your school days?I grew up in an Irish Catholic neighbourhood called Hungry Hill, which was essentially a west Kerry Gaeltacht village transplanted to the US. The Deerhunter was about a Polish American town in Pennsylvania, but it conveyed our sense of ethnic identity as well as the way the Vietnam War ravaged working-class communities.
What song most reminds you of your school days?California Dreamin' by the Mamas and the Papas
What food most reminds you of your school days?Home-made bread like my mother used to bake.
What was your school uniform?A navy blue blazer and grey pants. You were judged as cool or not based on your shoes.
What's the boldest thing you ever did?
Probably a tirade directed at my high-school baseball coach in front of the team in the middle of a game. I got fed up with his playing favourites, and told him to go perform a series of unnatural acts, then led a mutiny out of the park.
Did you go to college and if so, what did you study?At Seton Hall University I started out in journalism and ended up in sociology. At Cornell University, I received my PhD in social psychology.
Would you send your children to the school you went to?The schools I attended were staffed almost completely by nuns. This is a very different era.
What was the best thing about your education?The best parts of it helped me appreciate how learning can transform people's lives. Getting a degree helped me escape the manual labour my father had to do.
What was the worst thing about your education?The deadening effect exerted by teachers who were just going through the motions.
