Stanley H. Kaplan quotes as published in his 2001 autobiography with Anne Farris, Test Pilot - How I Broke Testing Barriers for Millions of Students and Caused a Sonic Boom in the Business of Education (Simon & Schuster)

Stanley’s Middle Name

I adopted the middle name Henry. I'm not exactly sure why I chose Henry. It might have been my admiration for the novelist O. Henry, or it might have been those tasty Oh Henry! candy bars. But I've been Stanley H. Kaplan ever since. If someone asks, "What does the 'H' stand for?" I immediately answer, "Higher scores, of course!"

Leveling the Playing Field

I was frustrated that I couldn’t prove to the medical school admissions offices that City College students were academically on par with private college graduates…. There was no standardized test such as today’s Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) to compare students from different colleges…Years later when my students complained about taking admissions tests, I told them about my experience applying to medical school. I encouraged them to take full advantage of the opportunity to show off their potential on a level playing field.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer

Charles Schumer, now the senior U.S. senator from New York, worked in my printing office while he was in high school. I should have known then that he would aspire to high office because he would read the materials as they came off the copy machine to check to see whether I had made any mistakes. He studied while he worked. His SAT score was close to a perfect 1600.

The Word Was Spreading

A student who had taken my SAT program showed up to enroll in our new MCAT program. Under normal circumstances this would have been no big deal—it happened all the time. But this student was different. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and would fly to New York to attend our weekly classes! His travel and hotel expenses alone exceeded the cost of the classes. I was flabbergasted, but pleasantly so.… This was the beginning of the MCAT rush in Brooklyn. Students arrived in droves, not just from Berkeley but from colleges in Illinois and Texas too.

Kaplan’s Growth

The Kaplan name was becoming as generic as “Xerox” or “Kleenex” without all the X’s. Our centers outside New York were burgeoning. We opened a center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1976, our first outside the United States and Canada. A year later we had opened centers in sixteen more cities, including Toronto, Canada and by 1978 had opened centers in twenty-two additional cities.

The Washington Post Acquisition

The Washington Post Company was not our first suitor. There had been other, smaller companies interested in buying, but The Washington Post Company was different. With this company I sensed a feeling of trust. Other suitors didn’t have the dedication to preserve the integrity of Kaplan or to allow for a smooth and painless acquisition of a family-owned business…. I also liked the idea of selling Kaplan to a company in the communications business. I wanted a company with more than just money and expertise. I wanted a company that understood the value of educating and communications. That’s what Kaplan was all about.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Credits Kaplan With Increasing Scores

The FTC office in Boston was conducting a preliminary inquiry into whether or not Kaplan had used false advertising and deceptive marketing practices that might violate federal trade laws…. The public debate over test accountability, bias, validity, and coaching had reached such a crescendo that the FTC reacted by initiating its investigation of my company.…In a resounding victory for the test preparation industry, the FTC again concluded that coaching could help raise SAT scores….My ads didn’t say it; a government report said it. At last I felt vindicated.