Khan Academy: The Education Revolution is Now

The Education Revolution we have heard so much about over the past several decades has finally arrived. It has arrived in style, substance, and effectiveness. It has arrived in the Khan Academy, a free instruction resource with over 1,800 in-depth lessons in math, science, humanities, and many other areas. Over 33 million of these lessons have been delivered. The Academy has a faculty of one: Sal Khan.

Khan, a Harvard MBA with MIT degrees in math, electrical engineering, and computer science, began this project by using the computer to distance tutor the children of some of his relatives. They so liked and benefitted from these on-line lessons created with simple doodles and narration, Khan knew he was on to something that could really work and help millions of people of all ages. His lessons are concise, clear, informative, and rock solid in their content. The man is a genius.

The best way to confirm what I am stating is to visit the academy at www.khanacademy.org and take a sample lesson. I would recommend his lesson under Brain Teasers called Light Bulb Switching Brain Teaser or his first lesson in Cosmology and Astronomy called Scale of Earth and Sun. Either of these will clearly demonstrate his excellent teaching style, the ease and clarity with which the lessons are delivered, and the fact that the promise of quality multimedia education has finally been delivered. That it is delivered for free is simply a remarkable bonus.

Detractors have called Khan’s collection of lessons more a library than actual instruction, but they are wrong. These lessons are as real and effective as any delivered by a teacher in a classroom. Finally, true learning can take place using a computer and the instruction from Khan. It is a most viable solution to the severely dumbed-down, painfully slow, hugely expensive, oft interrupted, union-controlled public education we have now.

‘Tis the season to rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice. The Education Revolution is here!