U.S. Education System: Is Khan Academy a Solution or a Part of the Problem?
I. Introduction
Upon performing an analysis on the statistics that describe the United States education system, one may naturally ponder the following question: “How does a country that spends more money on education than the next 8 highest-spending countries combined, only manage to rank 14th in educational performance?” Although most experts would agree that this is a substantial problem, not all of them agree on the type of solution that should be implemented. The intention of this paper is to discuss one of these proposed solutions in an attempt to answer the question: “Is Khan Academy a solution, or a part of the problem?” Khan Academy is a website, started by Salman Khan several years ago, that offers a wide variety of educational videos for students of all ages.
It’s important to note that there is a third, less common, perspective, besides the two main ones that answer the question with, “Khan Academy is the solution” and, “Khan Academy is a part of the problem.” This perspective is a stance that could be taken by people that say they agree with certain points on both sides of the debate. Regardless, even if one embraces this stance in an attempt to answer the question, they would still have to discuss the two opposite positions and report on what kind of a role the answers play in resolving the public issue in regards to the inefficiency of the United States education system. In this report, both sides of the spectrum are scrutinized with the intent of reaching an objective answer in the concluding portion of the report. This will be a report on the findings of the research and a presentation completed in a way that allows the reader to choose which stance they agree with.
First, lets provide a synopsis of Khan Academy’s performance since it’s inception in 2006 by a retired hedge-fund analyst, Salman Khan. The next two segments will report on the facts that surround both sides of the debate. Finally, in the conclusion section, a consideration of the implications of both points of view is made in an attempt to come up with an objective reply to the above stated question regarding the role of Khan Academy.
II. Khan Academy: A Synopsis
The website known all around the world as Khan Academy was founded in September of 2006 by Salman Khan. What started as a one-man tutoring system has since evolved into an 80-person organization that has been built around Khan’s flipped classroom idea. The website provides free world-class education for anyone, anywhere, at any time. Khan Academy is a very welcoming user-friendly website that gets you motivated to learn from the second you open the home page. The website acts as a personalized learning resource for students, parents, and teachers of all ages with a wide variety of instructional videos and practice exercises in many different topics. From kindergarten through 8th grade as well as high school and higher levels of education, anyone can log on and learn math, science, economics, finance, arts, humanities, computing, test-prep and even get college admission help through special programs set up to help a person improve their SAT and ACT scores. Salman Khan claims that most students only understand about 75% of the material leaving gaps in their knowledge, yet they still move on to the next topic to get through the required content for the school year. That statistic alone encouraged Khan Academy to implement the idea of adaptive learning technology that can identify strengths and learning gaps. Anyone who logs on will be able to study at their own pace and be challenged to master a topic regardless of whether it takes 5 attempts or 20 before they move on to their next topic.
Khan Academy had 22,409,859 learners at the time when this article was written and that number continues to grow every day with the help of their thousands of videos and lessons translated in over 40 different languages. Another important fact about Khan Academy is that it has a Spanish, French, and Brazilian-Portuguese version of their site, making this an international education craze website. Khan Academy’s ability to reach the international community is evident when considering a recent article that discusses the research performed in Chile on the impact of Khan Academy. In 2013, researchers visited Santiago, Chile in order to perform an examination in different schools in which several instructors are using Khan Academy (Light and Pierson 103-119). Now that a synopsis of the non-profit organization has been provided, let’s move on to discussing the facts that have to do with how Khan Academy impacts the issues related to the inefficiency of the education system in the United States.
III. Khan Academy is a Part of the Problem
It’s easy for one to be impressed and readily grant credibility to a company that has the ability to obtain a $10.5 million donation from Bill Gates and a $2 million donation from Google. The more difficult task is to bring oneself out of the awestruck manner and remain objective when reporting on Khan Academy and it’s role in the United States education system. It’s important to note that the intention is not to give support to this perspective in this section. Instead, this section of the report will serve the purpose of un-biasedly discussing the facts that arise when considering the viewpoint that Khan Academy is a part of the problem.
Let’s start with the first fact, which is that Salman Khan is not a trained teacher. Although obtaining a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and computer science, and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, is an impressive feat, it’s paramount to mention the one thing that he does not have. Salman Khan does not have a degree in education. Some may argue that his academic career is sufficient enough in order for him to be able to fill the role of a teacher, but an important question has to be asked: “Should we hold Salman Khan to a different standard than other educators?” Other people that we allow to educate our children are required to have a bachelors degree as well as special training in education while Salman Khan does not. This could lead to a conclusion that allowing untrained and unspecialized people to teach our children is in fact contributing to the problem of our education system.
Let’s conclude this section by bringing up one more important point that could lead us to a similar conclusion as the point above. There is already so much going on with our education system; do we really need another distraction from the classroom? An hour spent on the computer might not be as valuable as the time that is spent with a teacher in the classroom. In this day and age when the world is evolving into one in which human interaction is becoming less common, while technology runs our life, an intriguing point is one that our kids need more face to face time with the teachers, rather than having their head hidden behind a computer. Now let’s move on to reporting on some of the facts that exist on the other side of the discussion.
IV. Khan Academy is the Solution to the Problem
Similar to the previous one, this section will also attempt to present, in an unbiased manner, some of the key points as to why Khan Academy is the solution to the problem. Once again, by mentioning these facts, support is not given to this side of the discussion. The intent is to merely report on the research that was done on this topic.
According to a report written by The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United States ranks 14th in world when it comes to student Performance on the Reading, Scientific, and Mathematical Literacy Scales. This result alone is not necessarily a poor one when considering that there are 196 countries in the world. The thing that makes us
look at this fact critically is when we consider that the United States spends more money on education than any other country in the world. In fact, the picture below shows us that the United States spends as much money on education as the next 8 highest-spending countries combined. This makes the United States the least efficient when it comes to utilizing funds for educational purposes. There are two possible ways to improve this efficiency. The first way is to cut down on spending by getting rid of unnecessary and inefficient programs that don’t seem to boost the test scores. The second way would be to find a way to improve student performance test scores. There have been many discussions about which of these two is more important. The thing that’s almost unique to Khan Academy is that it has potential to do both.
Researcher Graham Parslow recently did a report that summarizes the evolution of education and online lectures (337-338). The style of flipping the classroom is believed to allow students to learn at their own pace and move on to a different concept only when they have mastered the previous concept. The flipped classroom is discussed in detail and the benefits it has to offer to not only the students, but the teachers as well. Applying the concept of flipping the classroom with the use of the free online source, Khan Academy, would help cut down on very large spending that is currently spent on various software programs that are used in schools all around the United States.
At the same time, Khan Academy, through its constant research and new technologies has the ability to improve students test scores. To prove this let’s look at research performed by Derik Leony on ALAS-KA (Add-on of the Learning Analytics support of the Khan Academy). In his report, he concludes, “This architecture enables teachers to process the huge amount of educational low level data (in the form of events) and to obtain higher level learning information that can be presented in the form of visualizations and recommendations”, (Leony 235). After analyzing some of the research it becomes apparent why it can be stated that Khan Academy is the solution to the problem with our education system.
V. Bringing It All Together
Whether Khan Academy is a solution, or adds to the problem that we have with the United States education system, is a tough question to answer. This report has attempted to present both sides of the debate in a way that let’s the reader choose where they stand. After thoroughly researching and examining all of the points that were brought up in this report, I have come to the conclusion that it’s more likely that Khan Academy is going to be more of a solution, than it is a part of the problem. Khan Academy has a proven record of being able to both decrease the amount of money that the United States spends on education, as well as increase the ranking of it’s education performance in the world. Having said that, I do think that Salman Khan and some of the people that work for him in the role of educators, should have specific training in how to be a teacher.
Works Cited
Khan Academy. Khan Academy, 2014. Web. 13 April. 2015
Light, Daniel, Elizabeth Pierson. “Increasing Student Engagement in Math: The Use of Khan Academy in Chilean Classrooms.” International Journal of Education & Development using Information & Communication Technology 10 (2014): 103-119. Print.
Leony, Derick, et al. “Alas-ka: A Learning Analytics Extension for Better Understanding the Learning Process In the Khan Academy Platform.” Computers in Human Behavior 49 (2014): Print.
Parslow, Graham R. “Commentary: The Khan Academy and the Day-Night Flipped Classroom.” Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 40 (2012): 337-338. Print.
Upon performing an analysis on the statistics that describe the United States education system, one may naturally ponder the following question: “How does a country that spends more money on education than the next 8 highest-spending countries combined, only manage to rank 14th in educational performance?” Although most experts would agree that this is a substantial problem, not all of them agree on the type of solution that should be implemented. The intention of this paper is to discuss one of these proposed solutions in an attempt to answer the question: “Is Khan Academy a solution, or a part of the problem?” Khan Academy is a website, started by Salman Khan several years ago, that offers a wide variety of educational videos for students of all ages.
It’s important to note that there is a third, less common, perspective, besides the two main ones that answer the question with, “Khan Academy is the solution” and, “Khan Academy is a part of the problem.” This perspective is a stance that could be taken by people that say they agree with certain points on both sides of the debate. Regardless, even if one embraces this stance in an attempt to answer the question, they would still have to discuss the two opposite positions and report on what kind of a role the answers play in resolving the public issue in regards to the inefficiency of the United States education system. In this report, both sides of the spectrum are scrutinized with the intent of reaching an objective answer in the concluding portion of the report. This will be a report on the findings of the research and a presentation completed in a way that allows the reader to choose which stance they agree with.
First, lets provide a synopsis of Khan Academy’s performance since it’s inception in 2006 by a retired hedge-fund analyst, Salman Khan. The next two segments will report on the facts that surround both sides of the debate. Finally, in the conclusion section, a consideration of the implications of both points of view is made in an attempt to come up with an objective reply to the above stated question regarding the role of Khan Academy.
II. Khan Academy: A Synopsis
The website known all around the world as Khan Academy was founded in September of 2006 by Salman Khan. What started as a one-man tutoring system has since evolved into an 80-person organization that has been built around Khan’s flipped classroom idea. The website provides free world-class education for anyone, anywhere, at any time. Khan Academy is a very welcoming user-friendly website that gets you motivated to learn from the second you open the home page. The website acts as a personalized learning resource for students, parents, and teachers of all ages with a wide variety of instructional videos and practice exercises in many different topics. From kindergarten through 8th grade as well as high school and higher levels of education, anyone can log on and learn math, science, economics, finance, arts, humanities, computing, test-prep and even get college admission help through special programs set up to help a person improve their SAT and ACT scores. Salman Khan claims that most students only understand about 75% of the material leaving gaps in their knowledge, yet they still move on to the next topic to get through the required content for the school year. That statistic alone encouraged Khan Academy to implement the idea of adaptive learning technology that can identify strengths and learning gaps. Anyone who logs on will be able to study at their own pace and be challenged to master a topic regardless of whether it takes 5 attempts or 20 before they move on to their next topic.
Khan Academy had 22,409,859 learners at the time when this article was written and that number continues to grow every day with the help of their thousands of videos and lessons translated in over 40 different languages. Another important fact about Khan Academy is that it has a Spanish, French, and Brazilian-Portuguese version of their site, making this an international education craze website. Khan Academy’s ability to reach the international community is evident when considering a recent article that discusses the research performed in Chile on the impact of Khan Academy. In 2013, researchers visited Santiago, Chile in order to perform an examination in different schools in which several instructors are using Khan Academy (Light and Pierson 103-119). Now that a synopsis of the non-profit organization has been provided, let’s move on to discussing the facts that have to do with how Khan Academy impacts the issues related to the inefficiency of the education system in the United States.
III. Khan Academy is a Part of the Problem
It’s easy for one to be impressed and readily grant credibility to a company that has the ability to obtain a $10.5 million donation from Bill Gates and a $2 million donation from Google. The more difficult task is to bring oneself out of the awestruck manner and remain objective when reporting on Khan Academy and it’s role in the United States education system. It’s important to note that the intention is not to give support to this perspective in this section. Instead, this section of the report will serve the purpose of un-biasedly discussing the facts that arise when considering the viewpoint that Khan Academy is a part of the problem.
Let’s start with the first fact, which is that Salman Khan is not a trained teacher. Although obtaining a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and computer science, and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, is an impressive feat, it’s paramount to mention the one thing that he does not have. Salman Khan does not have a degree in education. Some may argue that his academic career is sufficient enough in order for him to be able to fill the role of a teacher, but an important question has to be asked: “Should we hold Salman Khan to a different standard than other educators?” Other people that we allow to educate our children are required to have a bachelors degree as well as special training in education while Salman Khan does not. This could lead to a conclusion that allowing untrained and unspecialized people to teach our children is in fact contributing to the problem of our education system.
Let’s conclude this section by bringing up one more important point that could lead us to a similar conclusion as the point above. There is already so much going on with our education system; do we really need another distraction from the classroom? An hour spent on the computer might not be as valuable as the time that is spent with a teacher in the classroom. In this day and age when the world is evolving into one in which human interaction is becoming less common, while technology runs our life, an intriguing point is one that our kids need more face to face time with the teachers, rather than having their head hidden behind a computer. Now let’s move on to reporting on some of the facts that exist on the other side of the discussion.
IV. Khan Academy is the Solution to the Problem
Similar to the previous one, this section will also attempt to present, in an unbiased manner, some of the key points as to why Khan Academy is the solution to the problem. Once again, by mentioning these facts, support is not given to this side of the discussion. The intent is to merely report on the research that was done on this topic.
According to a report written by The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United States ranks 14th in world when it comes to student Performance on the Reading, Scientific, and Mathematical Literacy Scales. This result alone is not necessarily a poor one when considering that there are 196 countries in the world. The thing that makes us
look at this fact critically is when we consider that the United States spends more money on education than any other country in the world. In fact, the picture below shows us that the United States spends as much money on education as the next 8 highest-spending countries combined. This makes the United States the least efficient when it comes to utilizing funds for educational purposes. There are two possible ways to improve this efficiency. The first way is to cut down on spending by getting rid of unnecessary and inefficient programs that don’t seem to boost the test scores. The second way would be to find a way to improve student performance test scores. There have been many discussions about which of these two is more important. The thing that’s almost unique to Khan Academy is that it has potential to do both.
Researcher Graham Parslow recently did a report that summarizes the evolution of education and online lectures (337-338). The style of flipping the classroom is believed to allow students to learn at their own pace and move on to a different concept only when they have mastered the previous concept. The flipped classroom is discussed in detail and the benefits it has to offer to not only the students, but the teachers as well. Applying the concept of flipping the classroom with the use of the free online source, Khan Academy, would help cut down on very large spending that is currently spent on various software programs that are used in schools all around the United States.
At the same time, Khan Academy, through its constant research and new technologies has the ability to improve students test scores. To prove this let’s look at research performed by Derik Leony on ALAS-KA (Add-on of the Learning Analytics support of the Khan Academy). In his report, he concludes, “This architecture enables teachers to process the huge amount of educational low level data (in the form of events) and to obtain higher level learning information that can be presented in the form of visualizations and recommendations”, (Leony 235). After analyzing some of the research it becomes apparent why it can be stated that Khan Academy is the solution to the problem with our education system.
V. Bringing It All Together
Whether Khan Academy is a solution, or adds to the problem that we have with the United States education system, is a tough question to answer. This report has attempted to present both sides of the debate in a way that let’s the reader choose where they stand. After thoroughly researching and examining all of the points that were brought up in this report, I have come to the conclusion that it’s more likely that Khan Academy is going to be more of a solution, than it is a part of the problem. Khan Academy has a proven record of being able to both decrease the amount of money that the United States spends on education, as well as increase the ranking of it’s education performance in the world. Having said that, I do think that Salman Khan and some of the people that work for him in the role of educators, should have specific training in how to be a teacher.
Works Cited
Khan Academy. Khan Academy, 2014. Web. 13 April. 2015
Light, Daniel, Elizabeth Pierson. “Increasing Student Engagement in Math: The Use of Khan Academy in Chilean Classrooms.” International Journal of Education & Development using Information & Communication Technology 10 (2014): 103-119. Print.
Leony, Derick, et al. “Alas-ka: A Learning Analytics Extension for Better Understanding the Learning Process In the Khan Academy Platform.” Computers in Human Behavior 49 (2014): Print.
Parslow, Graham R. “Commentary: The Khan Academy and the Day-Night Flipped Classroom.” Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 40 (2012): 337-338. Print.