Sal Khan is what you would call the perfect student. He was valedictorian at his high school, attended MIT, and became class president his senior year. He later attended Harvard Business School where he earned his MBA. His current endeavor, Khan Academy, is where he gained his fame. It started when he began tutoring his cousin in math using internet videos. He decided to post those videos on YouTube so others could use them. His videos became popular enough to the point that he quit his job to develop Khan Academy.
Today Khan Academy has exploded in popularity. What started out as one man, has grown into a 150-person organization with videos including basic algebra, advanced physics, and even personal finance. Their mission is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. They recognized a problem with the current educational system. Students who were having trouble learning content quickly were getting left behind. Khan bridged that gap through his videos. They are well organized and easy to follow. If a student is struggling in a tough subject like math, rather than giving up, they can go to Khan Academy (for free) and it will provide them with the extra help they need.
Khan not only tutors struggling students, but also has a revolutionary idea about how to improve education. During a Ted Talk, he floated a fairly controversial idea, which is having an educational system complete that requires subject mastery. I remember when I first heard about subject mastery, immediately the Keystones came to mind. For those unfamiliar, the Keystones are a series of standardized tests in English, Math, and Science that every high school student in Pennsylvania needs to pass in order to graduate high school. Educators flipped out claiming it would be impossible for every student to master those tests. Why? Because the current education system is flawed. Right now, students are tested but when student 1 receives a 95% and student 2 receives a 75%, the teachers move on and leave the knowledge gaps unfilled. Khan argues that if students do not master the fundamentals of math and science, it creates problems when they move on to tougher concepts. Consequently, students without strong fundamental math skills are more likely to switch out of harder level math, engineering, and science courses.
But with technology, every student mastering a subject is possible. Computers and videos can allow a student to work at their own pace and take as much time as they need until they master the concept. To those who say it can’t be done, consider this. It was once thought that 100% literacy was impossible, but we live in a society today where nearly 100% of the population is literate. Complete mastery of a subject for every student is possible, only you need to realize that it takes some longer for some than others.
I can’t count how many times I’ve used Khan Academy’s videos. They are so helpful for explaining concepts that I don’t quite grasp in class, and they only take about 5-15 minutes. They also do such a great job of simplifying concepts to make them easier to understand.
It’s also interesting to see how Sal used YouTube as a platform to broadcast his idea. This is just one example of how the Internet, and specifically YouTube, have and can be utilized to gain support for entrepreneurial endeavors.
Recently, I have read news stories about Khan expanding to adopt a bit of a “Ted Talks” model: reaching out to experts in any number of fields to collaborate on new courses and higher level material. just one more way of making education and information available to everybody.
I recognized the name because I have watched Khan Academy videos so many times for my math classes throughout high school. None of my teachers ever suggested it – I heard about them from peers. Maybe this has changed since then, but I think it would be beneficial for Khan to reach out to teachers and have them use the resources he provides.
I love that he won’t accept anything less than subject mastery. It’s too easy, sometimes, to accept that we can’t do something. In a way, we curse ourselves. If we took this mindset and refused to believe that we couldn’t learn something, imagine the progress we could make!
I have never heard of Khan Academy but I am going to check it out. Not only is it cool that he designed a way to explain concepts easily for struggling students, but the use of a video platform is really innovated. It allows the user to watch and re-watch the video as many times as they need. His passion for education is very admirable! I like that he hasn’t stopped at just the Khan Academy but has done things like Ted Talks.
I used Khan Academy many times throughout high school. My math teachers even occasionally assigned watching one of the videos as homework. They were also very helpful for quick reviews of concepts before exams. Khan discovered a problem with education and solved it in a way that would resonate with the young people who would be watching the videos. Technology is such a big part of people’s lives, so helping people through internet videos was a great idea.
Khan Academy was such a huge help for classes in high school. It’s a great place to find informational videos all in one place. It’s a great opportunity for all students, too, since there is not cost to use it.