Sal Khan

Educator

1976-10-11

Quotes by Sal Khan

• You only have so much time in the day, and you only have so many working years. Where do you want to invest that life?

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• Louisiana was as close to South Asia as the United States could get: it had spicy food, humidity, giant cockroaches, and a corrupt government.

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• A lot of times, when kids have problems with algebra or trigonometry, it has nothing to do with the subject matter, has nothing to do with their innate intelligence. It's just they that they had some gaps in elementary school that they never got to fill in.

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• I'm actually a bit of a technophobe, which surprises people. I like to stay unplugged as much as possible.

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• One of the biggest ways to level the playing field is to give all young people the same context on what opportunities are out there. And that means touching on some of the questions that are a little taboo in society: How much money do you make? What are your stresses? What would you do differently if you could?

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• By early 2009, tens of thousands of students were watching tutorials on the Khan Academy every day. The software I wrote for my cousins had become so popular, it was making my $50-a-month web host crash. The possibilities surrounding the academy were so exciting that I had trouble doing my day job properly. And soon, I quit.

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• We don't believe that you should ever replace physical education. Even in a thousand years, a computer will never be able to do so.

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• As my kids grow up, I think a lot about the lessons and values I want to impart to them. More than any particular skill or even financial support, I believe perseverance and resilience will serve them best, regardless of what curveball life inevitably throws them.

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• The math you need for most of finance is ninth-grade algebra, and most people feel reasonably comfortable with that. But I think the financial world there has been - I don't know if it's by design, or this is how it's evolved - there are bad actors who have wanted to obfuscate because you can benefit from the lack of transparency.

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• I'm big fan of soulful music - classic rock with a folk-ish twist.

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• Many of the best teachers I know are being laid off because their unions value seniority over intellect, passion, creativity, and drive.

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• Teachers' unions don't act in the interest of most teachers.

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• What you have in most education software is that they're catering to the decision-maker who makes the budget allocations, and that decision-maker has a lot of check boxes. Does it do this? Check. Does it do that? Check. They could care less about the end user experience.

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• I'm starting a virtual school for the world, teaching things the way I wanted to be taught.

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• Great people are attracted to great people and great visions.

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• Suffice it to say that our over-reliance on testing is based largely on habit, wishful thinking, and leaps of faith.

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• Kids and adults alike are having their curiosity drained away by boredom in class or the workplace, and by the unremitting background noise of a dumbed-down pop culture.

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• Our mission at Khan Academy is a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere, and college readiness is a crucial part of that. We want to help as many students as possible prepare for college and for life, and since the SAT measures preparedness for college, our partnership with the College Board is a natural fit.

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• No one goes on a direct path, even though it sometimes feels like your peers might be racing ahead. Everyone's trying to figure it out. But if you just put yourself out there, step out of your comfort zone, establish yourself in terms of skills, mentorship, but leave space for your passions, then you're going to turn out pretty well.

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