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  • - Hi everyone.

  • Welcome to the "The Daily Homeroom" livestream.

  • This is just a way for all of us to stay in touch

  • during this time of school closures.

  • And as we have in homeroom homeroom in the real world,

  • the physical world which we all now really miss,

  • it's a time for us to come together,

  • to make announcements, to answer questions,

  • and that's what we wanna do here.

  • So, as we go into the meat of this homeroom conversation,

  • and it's really just going to be

  • a really informal session today of being able

  • to ask myself and my team member Dan is going

  • to join us as well, literally any question.

  • So, go on to Facebook, go on to YouTube,

  • and ask anything you would like (laughs)

  • of me or the team here at Khan Academy.

  • What we have already been putting out for all of y'all,

  • parents, teachers, students, over the last several weeks

  • is based on the realization that Khan Academy exists,

  • we never could've foreseen this type of a situation.

  • But, we wanna create structures and support

  • so that you can use all the content,

  • and all the software that we've been making.

  • Which is all free.

  • It's all non-commercial in a way that meets your needs

  • as a parent, student, or a teacher.

  • And so, you can see right over here,

  • these remote learning resources we've been putting out.

  • Things like teacher webinars, parent webinars,

  • lesson daily schedules for students of different ages.

  • Also, we put out learning plans recently in math

  • so that students could learn through the end of the year,

  • and through next summer, or this coming summer

  • so that they can not stop learning.

  • I do wanna give a special shout-out

  • to several corporate partners who

  • are helping support all of this.

  • Many of y'all know, Khan Academy's a not-for-profit,

  • and with a mission of providing you

  • free world-class education for anyone, anywhere,

  • and that's only possible through philanthropic donations

  • from folks like yourself and from some of

  • our corporate partners that you see listed here.

  • These are folks that literally

  • just stepped up in the last few weeks.

  • We have other folks who have been helping us

  • keep going over the last several years,

  • but we were running at a deficit even going

  • into this situation and our deficit increased

  • because our traffic now is 2.5,

  • actually approaching three x of what it typically is.

  • We're trying to do more supports,

  • trying to accelerate some content software programs

  • that we normally would've done in a few years

  • so we can do it sooner than later.

  • Bank of America, AT&T, Novartis, Google.org, and Fastly,

  • all organizations that are really

  • helping Khan Academy deliver on its mission.

  • But with that, I would love to

  • literally answer any question you have,

  • and I'll issue a challenge to surprise me.

  • And I have team members, we have team members,

  • who are looking at the message boards on Khan Academy

  • and they are going to surface any questions,

  • and Dan will also help me surface

  • any questions that folks might be having.

  • Let's see, we have some questions.

  • I could start while everyone's warming up

  • with some questions we had from last year.

  • Sorry, from last Friday that we never got to.

  • One person Abderrahman (mumbles) Hasan from YouTube asks,

  • "How come Khan Academy is running a deficit,

  • "and what will that have an impact on the provision

  • "of free world-class education as you do now?"

  • That's a very good question, Abderrahman,

  • so, you know, we're running at a deficit

  • because, you know, simple math, we're spending more

  • than we are bringing in in philanthropic donations.

  • And we are able to do that in the near term.

  • We do have a little bit of reserves,

  • but obviously that's not something

  • that we're going to be able to do indefinitely.

  • So, what we've been, the reason why we've been spending more

  • than the resources we've been bringing in,

  • is the belief that these things need to be out there.

  • They'll be able to serve students,

  • parents, and teachers that much more,

  • and the hope that folks are going to step up

  • whether they're individual donors, or corporations,

  • or foundations to allow us to do this work.

  • So, running a not-for-profit, there's always this tension

  • of sometimes you wanna move ahead

  • because you think some work, especially,

  • we're a bit of a unique non-for-profit

  • that we are, we do software and content.

  • We aren't your traditional not-for-profit

  • that, you know, maybe does other types

  • of great work like running a soup kitchen,

  • or providing malaria nets, or things like that.

  • And so, a lot of our work has to be front-loaded

  • in terms of expense, in terms of, you know,

  • we have approaching a hundred engineers at Khan Academy.

  • We have designers, product managers

  • who are all thinking a year a head,

  • two years ahead of what to build.

  • And so, sometimes we have to say,

  • "Okay, let's build it and hope

  • "that we're going to be able to support it."

  • But it's a constant, it's a constant tension

  • that we are trying to figure out.

  • But my, you know, it's my intent

  • that Khan Academy, hopefully, doesn't disappear.

  • You know?

  • When I do wake up in the middle

  • of the night that is my main concern.

  • I wanna ensure that Khan Academy is an organization

  • that doesn't just last through my lifetime,

  • but has the financial foundation

  • that it can last well beyond any of our lifetimes

  • to serve hopefully billions of folks in generations to come.

  • But, that is, you're hitting at a very real issue

  • for me and the team here.

  • So--

  • - Sal, we have another question.

  • Sal, we have a great question

  • from YouTube from Selena Chang.

  • She says first, "Hi, Sal.

  • "Hope you and your family are doing well."

  • Selena's been engaging in online courses

  • at Khan Academy and meditation and her question is,

  • "What are some of the habits that she can enforce

  • "to optimize productivity and learning?".

  • - So, take anything, Selena,

  • anything I have with a grain of salt.

  • I'm always trying to optimize my productivity,

  • and learning as well, but the things that I found

  • are definitely, some form of structure helps,

  • and it doesn't have to be, and I actually wouldn't

  • make that structure too intense.

  • I think it's actually bad if your day

  • is completely chopped up into very small sections

  • because then you don't have time to do some deeper things,

  • to do some more creative tasks.

  • So, what I try to do personally,

  • and I've talked about this on the livestream before,

  • is I try to have some easy wins early in my day.

  • So, I wake up, I do that meditation, I, you know, get ready.

  • I make the bed which I've talked a lot about

  • that gives you an easy win.

  • And then when I, in normal times if I'm coming to the office

  • or I'm working from home during quarantine,

  • I try to, I find the morning is when I get

  • my most productive creative work, so that's

  • actually when I try to do some videos.

  • So, I try to do two, three, four videos

  • in that morning time period.

  • And then I'm able to, and then I feel really productive,

  • and then I try to go into the rest of the day.

  • If I'm a student what I would try to do is,

  • in that morning period, I would try to tackle

  • the subjects that maybe you find take

  • the most cognitive load for you,

  • and I would also make sure that you have

  • a little bit of time so, you know,

  • there's kinda this tension between having fragments

  • of time to make sure you touch on everything,

  • and then longer blocks of time so you can go deeper.

  • I would try to ensure that you get every day,

  • some amount of math, every day some amount of reading,

  • every day some amount of writing,

  • and then free up time in your afternoon for maybe,

  • if you wanna go deeper and say,

  • "Hey, how far can I get with this project,

  • "or this thing I'm trying to start."

  • Other things I would recommend is just

  • remind yourself to just get started.

  • It's easy to paralyze yourself by overthinking things.

  • But just say, "You know what?

  • "Let's just see what happens,

  • "and just put one foot in front of the other,"

  • and that act of moving will oftentimes unblock you,

  • but we actually are hoping to bring on some guests

  • over the next few weeks, onto this livestream.

  • Folks who are experts in things like grit and resilience.

  • Folks even from the military who are experts

  • at things like discipline and proactivity,

  • and how to stay focused on things.

  • So, we hope to bring in more resources like that.

  • So let's see, from YouTube Catherine Pierce asks,

  • "How long does it take you to record a video?

  • "Do you do anything to prepare, or do you wing it?"

  • So, great question Catherine,

  • and the simple answer it it depends.

  • You know, this morning I got some messages from Charlotte,

  • who's on our content team say,

  • "We need some new content in some of our geometry,"

  • because we, our old worked example videos

  • used the old exercises that we had on Khan Academy,

  • and now we have new exercises.

  • So, for something like that where I'm able

  • to take an exercise that one of our team members

  • has created, copy and paste it onto

  • my little drawing program that I have here.

  • That doesn't take much at all,

  • and actually I try not to over prepare for that

  • so that when the student sees me doing it

  • it's really in real time.

  • We're working through this together.

  • What we've heard, and at least what I feel,

  • is one of the benefits of Khan Academy videos,

  • many of y'all are familiar with them,

  • they're not super fancy in terms of, you know,

  • computer graphics, or they don't look

  • like a well-produced movie, but their value,

  • hopefully their differentiator is

  • that whoever's making the video with me,

  • or someone else is really thinking through it in real time.

  • They aren't reading a script, and so sometimes that leads,

  • you know, I might have a little pause.

  • I might say um, or something like that,

  • but you can tell that we're doing it together.

  • So something like a math worked example, not a lot of time,

  • and reasonably winged, so to speak.

  • But, if I'm doing a topic that I need to really refresh on,

  • or go deeper than I might've even known before,

  • that could take some time.

  • You know, we have videos on Khan Academy in world history,

  • or certain parts of say organic chemistry

  • that I definitely have to spend several hours to research it

  • and then I, what I oftentimes do,

  • is I might just write some bullet point notes

  • just to make sure I hit the key ideas,

  • but I don't write a script.

  • So, the bullet point, you know, might be like,

  • "Make sure you don't misspell

  • "these steps of photosynthesis," or something like that.

  • And then I start the video.

  • 'Cause I do always want the student, the user, to feel that,

  • "Hey, Sal's really explaining this.

  • "His brain is really with his mouth," so to speak,

  • so hopefully people get that feeling.

  • So let's see, from YouTube, Elliot H says,

  • and Elliot has been referring to me

  • as Dumbledore Sal, which I'm flattered I think.

  • "Having scaled a start-up, do you envy friends who chose

  • "less risky, more lucrative careers in business and finance?

  • "Does that grass ever seem greener?"

  • So, Elliot, you're asking a great question

  • that is a very deep and philosophical question

  • because, as you know, grass often always looks deeper,

  • looks greener on the other side,

  • but what I found, in my life, is it's interesting.

  • When I was in, I guess you could say,

  • the more traditional industries,

  • back when I used to work at a tech start-up,

  • and, you know, I'm aging myself.

  • You know, 20 years ago now?

  • Yeah, I use to work at a tech start-ups

  • during the first dot com bubble.

  • Then, when I was working at a hedge fund

  • after business school.

  • When I was at a, and I was lucky,

  • I always had very good bosses,

  • and I always had I would say good jobs

  • that were intellectually stimulating.

  • I felt I was compensated more than fairly.

  • But there was that, when you are measured by,

  • if you're a hedge fund manager, or a hedge fund analyst,

  • how much money are you managing,

  • or what was the performance of your fund,

  • or how large was your bonus?

  • Then, when you measure yourself that way,

  • it's very easy, you'll always find someone

  • who is managing a larger business,

  • who has raised more money, who's getting paid more,

  • and you also don't see how difficult

  • their job might have been, you know?

  • I actually really enjoyed my jobs.

  • Maybe that friend of mine from business school

  • who's making twice as much as me

  • had a horrible boss and had a lot of stress,

  • and maybe, you know, their relationships were breaking down.

  • So, you never truly see that side of it.

  • But it is tempting to always say,

  • "Maybe I should be making more or maybe making less,"

  • and I realized even before I started Khan Academy

  • that that's a never-ending proposition,

  • and a no-win proposition.

  • And that was part of, frankly,

  • the rationale when starting Khan Academy.

  • To kinda try to be in its own lane

  • rather than try to start it off as a business,

  • and stay in that,

  • "Oh, let me beat those people out."

  • I'd say, "No, what's the right thing for humanity?"

  • and hopefully if we do the right thing

  • that's there for humanity that humanity,

  • or the world will help support this.

  • And, it's a very idealistic point of view,

  • but, you know, we live once.

  • Why not try to be idealistic?

  • Why not try to be optimistic?

  • And I'll say, you know, I can only speak

  • from my own narrative, it didn't come

  • without it's share of stress,

  • moments that I thought I might have made a blunder,

  • and I'd wonder what I was doing

  • to my family's finances and whatever that.

  • But when we got that first funding,

  • and even though my initial salaries

  • at Khan Academy back in the day

  • were, you know, a fourth or a fifth

  • of what I was making in the hedge fund world.

  • It didn't matter 'cause I still had enough

  • to be able to provide for my family,

  • to eat out every now and then,

  • to, you know, have our two Hondas,

  • and a 2,000 square foot house.

  • And the fact that I was able to spend my days

  • doing something that I really cared about

  • that I was able to get feedback from folks around the world,

  • form a connection with 'em, feel like I was helping them.

  • That made me feel like the luckiest person on the planet.

  • And so, you fast forward to today.

  • No, I don't have any regrets, and if anything,

  • you know, I obviously have a lot of friends

  • who've done very very well in life.

  • You know, I ask a lot of them for donations now,

  • (laughs) but I don't envy them in that way

  • because I remind myself that, you know,

  • knock on wood, you know, I have my health.

  • My family has their health.

  • You know, I have a amazing,

  • super intelligent, beautiful wife.

  • I have hilarious children.

  • I get to spend time with them.

  • I get to work on something that I care about,

  • and I'm, you know, from my point of view

  • the board here at Khan Academy compensates me

  • more than fairly, so I feel, you know,

  • all my basic needs for sure, are met.

  • And so, you know, what else can someone ask for?

  • Is the way I think about it.

  • I actually have trouble seeing other peoples grass

  • as anywhere close as green as my own.

  • So, I consider myself very fortunate.

  • So, let's see.

  • From Facebook, Laudo Stoiloff says,

  • "How do you think students can overcome their fear of math?"

  • So, that is a great question, and, you know,

  • you're talking about something that a lot of adults,

  • very accomplished adults who are clearly very capable,

  • say, "Oh, math, I'm afraid of that,"

  • and my theory, and I've seen things

  • that back up this theory.

  • I saw this with my cousins when I first

  • started tutoring them 15 years ago, 16 years ago

  • that the reason why they were having trouble

  • in math is math is very cumulative.

  • And, in a traditional model,

  • you're pushed together at a fixed pace,

  • and let's say the unit on dividing decimals.

  • You're a little shaky on it.

  • You got a 70 or 80% on a test.

  • Well, that gap remains.

  • And then later in ninth grade in algebra class,

  • when you have to divide decimals in that equation,

  • you're like, "Ahhh, I never really fully learned that.

  • "This is stressing me out," or maybe

  • you did learn it and now you forgot it.

  • And so, one of our core beliefs at Khan Academy

  • are we need to create the mechanism where you, the student,

  • can learn at your own pace, learn at your own time,

  • not have to feel embarrassed about something.

  • If you're an algebra student but you forgot how

  • to divide decimals, not a big deal.

  • There's many adults who forgot how to divide decimals.

  • You can go back to that content, and not only get videos,

  • but you can get that practice and that feedback.

  • So, my answer Laudo is, especially if, you know,

  • you're a student and schools are closed,

  • and you have the summer right after that,

  • go to Khan Academy, start at the very beginning.

  • Start at early learning on Khan Academy,

  • and I know that stuff will seem super easy for you,

  • but you'll be able to get through that if you use

  • the course challenges and the unit tests.

  • Literally in a matter of probably less than an hour,

  • you could get through early learning, first grade,

  • second grade, and then just keep going,

  • and build that strong foundation, and what you're gonna find

  • is when you do that, after a few weeks you're going

  • to get to your "grade level" and when you get

  • to your grade level with that strong foundation

  • you're like, "What was I stressed all about?

  • "This all makes sense now."

  • This all intuitive.

  • We get so many letters from 25 year olds, 30 year olds,

  • 50 year olds, 80 year olds saying,

  • "I can't believe that I used to be afraid of math.

  • "I went on to Khan Academy and I started learning

  • "from the beginning and I realized how much fun it is,

  • "how it helps me look at the world in a different way,

  • "in a fun way, and I realized that all those things

  • "I was stressed about were because of my gaps.

  • "It had nothing to do with my ability.

  • "It had nothing to do with math

  • "somehow being a difficult subject."

  • So, that's my tip, and my other tip is

  • that if you're going to do that, do it regularly.

  • I tell family members all the time, friends,

  • anyone who asks me, "Put in at least 20 minutes a day."

  • If you're able to put in at least 20 minutes a day,

  • and give yourself even a break

  • on weekends unless you're inspired

  • to take advantage of the weekends as well.

  • But if you do Monday through Friday,

  • 20 minutes a day, of Khan Academy.

  • Always progressing, always trying to level up skills,

  • using the course challenges, unit tests,

  • to accelerate as necessary, get that mastery.

  • I think, in about a month, you're going

  • to start having a different attitude towards math,

  • and I would say in about six months,

  • you're going to realize that you're all of a sudden

  • one of the strongest math students you know.

  • So, let's see, we have a question

  • from Facebook, Dede Vanwarmer says,

  • "Do you have any resources to make reading fun?"

  • So, reading is an area that we are just starting

  • to get into at Khan Academy so it's a fairly nascent state.

  • We just launched, what's known as a beta in software speak,

  • that's a early version that still needs to be refined

  • of English and language arts.

  • That starts at reading levels roughly

  • second grade through eighth grade.

  • I will let you determine whether it's fun.

  • I'll say the same thing that I just told Laud about,

  • Laudo about being able to do things regularly.

  • If you are an elementary student,

  • and reading is something that you've

  • always struggled with, start at the beginning.

  • Put in 20 minutes a day.

  • Keep going with that.

  • That could be helpful.

  • For older students, we have our official SAT practice.

  • It has reading comprehension in it, and once again,

  • I think it's a mindset, you know?

  • When I used to prepare for standardized tests

  • when I was in school, I just viewed it as,

  • I said, "Hey, let me enjoy this thing, you know?

  • "I'm kinda training for something."

  • The same way that you would train for a sport.

  • So, that could be fun.

  • My other tip is, try to find books that you really enjoy,

  • and oftentimes there'll be reading lists,

  • and we provide reading lists too, that we'll give you,

  • "Hey, here are books that are appropriate

  • for different grade levels," et cetera, et cetera.

  • Definitely take a look at those,

  • and have an open mind to things.

  • But, you know, I discovered my love for reading

  • when I started to find books that were

  • really about topics that I found interesting.

  • When I was young things like, you know,

  • space and the future, I found captivating.

  • So, I was willing to push through books

  • that were maybe even a little ahead of my reading level

  • because I was so captivated by that thing.

  • So, think about what you're interested in

  • and then just keep reading. (laughs)

  • And I think that'll always serve you well, you know?

  • The more you read and the more you're interested in it.

  • I wish I could give you more detailed answers.

  • - Sal, would you like to take a question on screen time?

  • We get a lot of questions from parents about

  • what the appropriate amount of screen time.

  • So, on Facebook, Shipra Shrivastava asks,

  • "Hi, Sal, hope you and your family are safe and well.

  • "And my child enjoys learning on Khan Academy,

  • "and since the courses are so interesting

  • "she can't stop doing them.

  • "I want her to keep going, but my concern is screen time.

  • "Do I limit the lessons?

  • "They're so fun and interesting.

  • "And should the app introduce time limits

  • "or something like that?"

  • - Yeah, great question Shilpra, and one we get a lot.

  • And so, I don't know how old your daughter is.

  • I mean, it's a great thing that she wants to keep learning.

  • My general rule of thumb, if she's younger,

  • if she's using Khan Academy kids app,

  • and she's four, five years old,

  • I would say try to keep screen time limited

  • to sessions of 15 or 20 minutes.

  • And making sure that she gets time outside,

  • time with family, plays, gets creative time.

  • And so, I oftentimes, I flip the screen time argument.

  • Instead of talking about,

  • "Well, what's the right amount of screen time?"

  • I say, "Well, what's the right amount of other things?"

  • And so, you gotta make sure that your child get time

  • to play, gets time outside, has quality time with you

  • and other family members, and if they're able to do that

  • and they have time to play and relax

  • then I'm less worried within some reasonable constraints.

  • On the other hand, there's kids who have no screen time,

  • but on the other side they're also

  • not getting those other things.

  • I would be far more worried about those kids

  • who are not running around outside,

  • who are not getting that meaningful time with their family,

  • but my general rule of thumb for a very young student,

  • I would say maybe 20, 30 minutes at a time max.

  • You know, we're in this kind of

  • stay in place order world with COVID.

  • I think all parents are having to,

  • everyone is going to have to get on screens

  • a little bit more than normal even if it's to ZOOM,

  • or be on a hangout with family members et cetera, et cetera.

  • So, I would say use your judgement,

  • make sure your daughter is able to play,

  • and has time for true relaxation

  • and joy outside of screen time.

  • For older students, there's a lot of screen time

  • where, you know, sometimes when I'm making videos

  • on Khan Academy which is a creative activity,

  • I might spend a few hours doing it.

  • Or if I'm writing a paper, or if I'm writing some code.

  • And so, if you have a 16 or 17 year old

  • who wants to spend some time practicing their calculus,

  • or their history on Khan Academy,

  • or is writing a paper, or wants to edit a video.

  • I would call that constructive screen time.

  • And if an older student is there,

  • I would still recommend that they get breaks

  • fairly regularly, but if they can, you know,

  • that could be several hours a day.

  • But there, I would still emphasize make sure

  • they have time to go outside, play, have creative time.

  • And that, if they don't have to be

  • on a screen they can do things otherwise.

  • Yesterday, I saw my son.

  • My sister-in-law has been kinda staying

  • in place with us and so she's in our house,

  • and he wanted to play chess with her,

  • and he like made her upload an app on her phone

  • so he could play on his iPad with her.

  • And I was like, "This is ridiculous.

  • "We have a chess board.

  • "Go to the chess board.

  • "Do not be on your screen just because it's a screen."

  • And sometimes we all are guilty of that sometimes.

  • There's something captivating about a screen.

  • So, I definitely think, when possible, go to real life,

  • play real chess, play real Monopoly, et cetera.

  • So, let's see, other questions, I have here.

  • So, Samira Hashim on Facebook says,

  • "Can you provide guidance to more people around

  • "the world to set up learning centers like Khan Labs?

  • "Would love to see something like it in Pakistan."

  • So, Samira, for those of you who don't know,

  • there's a school called Khan Lab School,

  • it's officially, it's not part of Khan Academy,

  • but it is a school that I started along with several

  • other families six years ago

  • that my children go to, and the whole idea there is,

  • you know, a lot of people think virtual education

  • is somehow in competition with physical learning.

  • And, I've always saw it as the exact opposite.

  • That virtual things like Khan Academy,

  • could be used to liberate and empower

  • what happens in a physical setting.

  • That it could allow students to do more games,

  • and simulations, and have Socratic dialogue,

  • and time for play.

  • I wrote about that in "The One World Schoolhouse,"

  • and then to prove that out I said,

  • "Well, there's no better way to prove it

  • then to actually start a lab school."

  • So that's what Khan Lab Schools is.

  • Our hope over time, the school is now K through 11.

  • It's going to be K through 12 in a few months.

  • Is that as we can prove out this model more,

  • it's also not for profit.

  • We just wanna share it with the whole world.

  • We wanna share what the model looks like,

  • and so I'm hoping that in a few years

  • anyone who's interested in starting a school

  • like that can say, "Okay, this is what they did

  • "out there in California.

  • "Here, my geography, Pakistan," or wherever it might be,

  • "is a little bit different, but I can modify it

  • "to what we're doing in my geography."

  • Because I hope it can be an example of what could be done.

  • Either as a new type of school,

  • or in traditional schools they say,

  • "Hey, maybe we could run our math class

  • "a little bit more like that."

  • And it's not that Khan Lab School has it all figured out.

  • A lot of what is happening at Khan Lab School

  • is informed by what's happening outside of it.

  • For example, Tim Vanderberg, who we had

  • on the daily livestream talking about

  • how he's had an incredible results

  • with his sixth grade students in Hesparian, California.

  • I forwarded that to the Khan Lab School teams like,

  • "Hey, Tim's got some great ideas.

  • "We gotta figure out how we can incorporate

  • "some of his ideas a little bit better."

  • But, thanks for asking.

  • So, let's see other questions.

  • So, Kim (mumbles), and I'm literally reading

  • these without knowing what I'm about to read out loud.

  • From Facebook says, "Hi, Sal.

  • "If you did not work with Khan Academy

  • "what else would you be doing?

  • "What other projects are high on your list of importance

  • "with regards to your interest and skill sets?"

  • That's, fascinating question.

  • Who knows what that alternate reality is?

  • I will say that, it's perhaps in my nature.

  • Obviously Khan Academy is where I focus all my energies,

  • but there's parts of the broader vision of Khan Academy

  • around, how do you fully empower people.

  • How do you empower teachers?

  • How do you empower students?

  • How can you reach people who

  • might not have access to school?

  • How can you give people credentials

  • so they can prove what they know?

  • So, all of those types of problems, I'm fascinated by.

  • And so, I'm hoping we can tackle most or all of them

  • within the umbrella of Khan Academy,

  • but whenever I meet a friend who has skills

  • in a certain domain, and they're like,

  • "Hey, what should I work on?"

  • I was like, "Well, you should think

  • "about a way to pair teachers and students,"

  • or so that they can, it could even be informal tutoring.

  • But doing in a way that can be free to empower everyone,

  • or we should figure out a way,

  • so that we can credential people,

  • so that more people can get apprenticeships.

  • So, that whole area, I obviously, of interest to me.

  • I would say that if I wasn't working in education,

  • the other area that's interesting,

  • you know we talked about meditation earlier.

  • I've become really intrigued by happiness.

  • How does someone become happy?

  • So much of our life we measure by economic success,

  • and happiness, at some level,

  • you do need some base economics.

  • And you see that, you know,

  • it's a scary world we're living in now

  • where even in places like the US

  • where because of the quarantine, or the closures,

  • a lot of peoples economics have gotten a lot tougher.

  • So, you need that baseline economics

  • to have that baseline of not being overstressed, and happy.

  • But then, you see beyond that, you know,

  • things like wealth doesn't necessarily correlate

  • so much with happiness.

  • So, it's a fascinating thing from my point of view.

  • And, when I think about my children,

  • obviously education matters.

  • I want them to be proficient in math,

  • and reading, and writing, and have a love for science,

  • and wanna invent things.

  • But I also see more and more, and I see this

  • with kids I grew up with and family members,

  • that you can be off the charts academically,

  • but if you go through, you know, life is gonna throw stuff

  • at you and I've been fortunate.

  • I've been thrown a few things,

  • but I know people who have been thrown much,

  • much harder things, and it's all how you're able

  • to process that and your level of resilience,

  • and grit and all of that

  • that really determine where you end up.

  • So, let's actually a really fascinating space,

  • and that's why we experimented with a few

  • of these meditation videos for students

  • because that's kinda the intersection

  • about academic success but also emotional resilience.

  • Even some of these questions we're getting about

  • how do you overcome math anxiety.

  • It's related to that same notion.

  • It's not just about learning the quadratic equation.

  • It's also about kind of reprogramming your mind

  • to realize that you're fully capable of doing this.

  • There's nothing wrong with getting a question wrong.

  • That that's actually when you learn the most.

  • And that, you know, no matter what life throws at you,

  • oftentimes you just have to wait it out and it tends

  • to get better than the very dire situation

  • that you oftentimes find yourself.

  • Obviously, there's exceptions.

  • There's people out there dealing with war,

  • and hunger and all of that, but for all of us

  • who aren't dealing with war, or hunger,

  • or bears chasing us or, you know, really hard things.

  • And there are people dealing with disease and things.

  • But, if you're dealing with just day-to-day work stress,

  • life stress, education stress.

  • Most of the stress is abstract things in our mind,

  • and it's interesting to think about what tools

  • can we do to make the best of it.

  • So, Kevin Rodriguez says, "Sal, are you planning

  • "to write a new book?

  • "Read yours years ago and loved it."

  • Oh, thanks.

  • Thanks, Kevin.

  • Yes, I do hope.

  • I was actually planning before all

  • of this COVID stuff happened.

  • The book might be different now.

  • The original thinking around the book was trying

  • to get a little more into the space, you know,

  • "One World Schoolhouse" which, you know,

  • not to plug it but since you brought up the book.

  • "One World Schoolhouse" was really

  • about how did Khan Academy exist.

  • What's the history of K12 education, and then given

  • where we're going and what the economy and world is like,

  • what could K12 education be like in the future.

  • And, as I mentioned, it was kinda the inspiration

  • for starting Khan Lab School which can hopefully

  • share things with other schools

  • to think about how things could change.

  • The next, I do wanna think about is

  • some of the signaling to the world.

  • How does someone prove what they know to the broader world?

  • What's the future of higher education?

  • And how does someone showcase their

  • best self and also be happy about it?

  • So, there is an aspect of social emotional well-being

  • above and beyond the academic

  • that I've been thinking about for the next book.

  • And maybe it's the exact same book

  • now that this COVID thing happened.

  • Maybe all of that stuff's even more important,

  • or maybe because of COVID a lot of things

  • in the virtual space are having

  • to accelerate in certain dimensions.

  • So, who knows?

  • When I get to writing that next book.

  • Let's see.

  • It looks like we're all out of time.

  • Well I'll answer one more question since,

  • well, there's actually a lot of good questions.

  • Whatever I don't get to today I'll get to

  • in future sessions when we don't have a guest,

  • but from Facebook (mumbles) asks, "Going forward,

  • "how important do you think traditional textbooks will be?"

  • I enjoy textbooks but I think they are in a lot of way,

  • you know, a lot from my generation who did well.

  • We were the subset who were good at reading textbooks.

  • We built that muscle.

  • And I think there's always going to be a skill there

  • because there is so much knowledge to be had in textbooks.

  • With that said, how is a textbook

  • different than a nonfiction book?

  • A textbook, like a nonfiction book,

  • will explain things to you,

  • but then it also gives you practice problems.

  • And, my belief is something like Khan Academy

  • can give you far more practice problems,

  • far more feedback, and hopefully the explanations

  • we give either in video form, text form,

  • or even in the exercises when we give the solutions

  • that that's more digestible than

  • what would be in your normal textbook.

  • So, I hope that Khan Academy can get

  • a lot more people learning at their own time and pace.

  • And I think textbooks will then become a reference

  • if someone wants to dig a little bit deeper

  • for some reason they can't get online.

  • They always have that reference set.

  • I think could be really useful.

  • So, I'm a little over time.

  • This is fun.

  • Time always goes by fast.

  • The questions are getting better and better,

  • but thanks for joining.

  • This is a fun way to stay connected

  • in times of social isolation.

  • I'll just remind everyone again.

  • We are a not-for-profit, and we are only possible,

  • we exist because of donations from folks like yourself.

  • So, think about if you're in a position to do so.

  • But with that, I will see you tomorrow.

  • Have a good Monday.

- Hi everyone.

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