Benjamin Carson, their father and their brother, during a press conference at the Indraprashtra Apollo Hospital in New Delhi. 2005: Ten-year-old Indian twins Sabah and Farah sit beside U.S. Carson continued to amaze his classmates with his newfound knowledge and within a year he was at the top of his class. “It was at that moment that I realized I wasn’t stupid,” he recalled later.
He recognized them from one of the books he had read. Within a few weeks, Carson astonished his classmates by identifying rock samples his teacher had brought to class. Zandra Krulak at an outing in Mount Vernon, a National Historic Landmark in Virginia, during the American Academy of Achievement’s 1999 Summit. Benjamin Carson and his wife, Candy, with Mrs. She required them to read two library books a week and to give her written reports on their reading even though, with her own poor education, she could barely read what they had written. She sharply limited the boys’ television watching and refused to let them outside to play until they had finished their homework each day. Carson saw Benjamin’s failing grades, she determined to turn her sons’ lives around. His classmates called him “dummy” and he developed a violent, uncontrollable temper. In fifth grade, Carson was at the bottom of his class. Benjamin and his brother fell farther and farther behind in school. She worked at two, sometimes three, jobs at a time to provide for her boys. Carson was left to raise Benjamin and his older brother Curtis on her own. When Benjamin Carson was only eight, his parents divorced, and Mrs. His mother, Sonya, had dropped out of school in the third grade, and married when she was only 13. (Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Hospital)īenjamin Carson was born in Detroit, Michigan. Carson is now the Honorary National Chairman of the My Faith Votes campaign and continues to work tirelessly for the cause of the American people.SeptemBenjamin Carson’s graduation photo from Southwestern High School, Detroit, Michigan, 1969. Carson and his wife are co-founders of the Carson Scholars Fund, which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments. Carson as one of the 10 Most Admired Men in the World.ĭr. In 2014, the Gallup Organization, in their annual survey, named Dr. Carson as one of "America's Best Leaders" in 2008. News Media Group and Harvard's Center for Public Leadership recognized Dr. In June 2008, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Carson was the recipient of the 2006 Spingarn Medal. He has written and published nine books, four of which were co-authored with Candy, his wife of 40 years. Carson, Sr., M.D., became the chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1984 at the age of 33, making him the youngest major division director in the hospital's history. Finally he looks at some pressing social issues-in particular, racial diversity, health care, and education-and considers how we ought to view them and what we should do about them in light of the Big Picture.ĭrawing on a vast array of experiences in roles ranging from trailblazing surgeon to public speaker, to husband and family man, Ben Carson shows how we can turn the course of our lives, out communities, our country, and our world by keeping the Big Picture always in mind.ĭr. Then he discusses ways to which all of us can approach parenting, family, business and friendships with the Big Picture in mind. Carson begins by describing how he cultivated a Big-Picture perspective in his own life.
Rather, it's a multifaceted look at the faith and vision that can see us all through hardship and failure, and stir us to bold exploits on behalf of something greater than ourselves.ĭr. But The Big Picture is more than an autobiography or a personal-effectiveness manual. As in Think Big, he describes his practical principles for success. Carson shares colorful behind-the-scenes anecdotes. In The Big Picture, Ben Carson reveals the spiritual and philosophical foundations that undergird not just his dramatic career, but his approach to all of life. What made the difference? Belief in his own potential, a commitment to education and making the most of his opportunities to learn, determination to make the world a better place, and faith in a God who knows no limits. Then a light clicked on for Ben-and a consuming passion for learning that catapulted him from 'zero' test grades to a Yale scholarship, a pioneering role in modern medicine, and an influence that has extended from inner-city schools to corporate boardrooms and Washington corridors of power. In his grade school days, Ben Carson would hardly have been voted 'most likely to become a famous surgeon.' His classmates had already given him another label: class dummy.