
Life’s Work: Salman Khan - henrik_w
http://hbr.org/2014/01/salman-khan/ar/pr
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gldalmaso
> _I set hard lines. Weekends are for my family. I do not touch the computer
> unless it is an absolute emergency. When I come back on Monday, I’m
> refreshed and productive. The same goes for evenings. I’ve been up on stage
> at speaking events and said, “I have to go give my kids a bath now,” and
> everyone is shocked. But if I can’t have dinner with my kids, give them a
> bath, and read them a book before bed, something is wrong in my life._

This should be expressed more often and by a lot more people. Great to hear
this from someone I already admire.

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mathattack
_Curiosity is a hard thing to squash, but the traditional model of education
manages pretty well: Listen to lectures, take notes, feed back what you
learned, and then forget it all. You’re not allowed to go beyond the
curriculum. Khan Academy is all about giving more breathing room. You want to
go deep? Go deep. I had this to some degree at the public school I went to in
Louisiana, where there were gifted programs. Every day, starting in second
grade, they took me out of class for an hour, and I would go to another room,
with a mixed age group. The first time I went, I thought it was the biggest
racket. I walked up to Miss Rouselle’s desk, and she asked, “What do you like
to do?” I was like, I’m seven years old—shouldn’t you be telling me what to
do? But I said, “I like to draw. I like puzzles.” She said, “OK, have you used
oil paints? Have you done Mind Benders?” Soon I looked forward to that hour
more than I did to spending the night at my friend’s house. And I learned more
that applies to what I do today than in the five other hours of the day
combined._

In NYC, they start prepping kids for admissions testing before they are 3. By
pre-K they are teaching kids to sit still for written exams. "Experts"
discourage kids from learning multiple languages since some K admissions exams
test vocabulary. "Experts" discourage kids from prematurely learning to read
because most K admissions exams only test aural reasoning.

Salman's points about the system destroying curiosity is 100% absolutely true.
I don't have a good solution other than to find a way to improve all the
schools in the system. Nobody has shown how to do this yet.

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fharper1961
Wow, that sounds incredibly bad. Back to the dark ages instead of looking to
the future!

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ateevchopra
_All of them, even though they sit on top of empires, go deep and try to
understand things themselves. They’re very hands-on. And they’re incredibly
curious._

Well a great piece of advice for everyone. The more you are curious, the more
you will love your job, the better you perform, more fulfilled life you live.

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pedrogrande
Being an entrepreneurial educator myself, it's so good to read about Khan's
ideas and experiences. This article has inspired me to work harder and have a
go at video delivery.

Hopefully I can make a positive difference in the world like Khan has.

