Eikyu Wrote:Best way to get a big paycheck too. I bet he loves big paychecks.

Like everyone else. Except most people wouldn't quit their job and give up their paycheck to do something like this full time.

Yeah they took a huge risk, there was a 99.9% chance they'd be permanently impoverished by doing this, but somehow, miraculously, the soul-crushing effort and insane gamble for this glorious site--perhaps the greatest gift known to humankind--paid off, thanks to Khan's saintly nature and tremendous innate genius. Bow before Khan!

Khan Wrote:Here is a letter I received from a YouTube user in September 2009 (I bolded some of the text):

Mr. Khan,

No teacher has ever done me any good--this may sound harsh but I mean it quite literally. I was force fed medication to keep me from talking and chastised for not speaking out when called on. Where I am from blacks are not welcomed with open arms into schools--my mother and her sisters had to go to a small shack two hours from home when they went to school. About five years ago my family collected enough money to move from where i was born, so that I could have a chance at having an education and living a real life. But without a real mastery of elementary math I was slow to progress.

I am now in college and learning more than I ever have in my life. But an inadequate math background has been holding me back. I found the Kahn Academy in June of 2009, right after I completed Math 141 ( a college algebra course). I have spent the entire summer on your youtube page. And I just wanted to thank you for everything you are doing. You are a Godsend. Last week I tested for a math placement exam and I am now in Honors Math 200. No question was answered incorrectly. My placement test holder was so impressed by the breadth of my knowledge of math that he said I should be in Linear algebra.

Mr. Khan, I can say without any doubt that you have changed my life and the lives of everyone in my family.

I wish you and the Khan Academy the best of luck,

One thing I love about khan academy is that it suits my learning style so well. I've wanted to study maths for the last 2 years but it felt hopeless cos I didn't have a way to do it (or one that I was comfy with). After finding this (and starting to use it!) I feel empowered. My maths ability is pretty basic so I'm using it to get back to the level i'll need for when I start Uni next year cos I'm going to study maths and Japanese.

Finally remembered the site I meant to link to before: http://www.statlit.org/

Khan Wrote:Here is a letter I received from a YouTube user in September 2009 (I bolded some of the text):

Mr. Khan,

<snip>I found the Kahn Academy in June of 2009, right after I completed Math 141 ( a college algebra course). I have spent the entire summer on your youtube page. And I just wanted to thank you for everything you are doing. You are a Godsend. Last week I tested for a math placement exam and I am now in Honors Math 200. No question was answered incorrectly. My placement test holder was so impressed by the breadth of my knowledge of math that he said I should be in Linear algebra.

Sorry, that makes no sense. No university I've ever heard of has "Honors Math" courses, or honors courses of any kind. Having an honors major means you have no minor and dedicate all credits to your major, but you still take the same courses as everyone else.
Hell, universities don't even have "placement tests" for math - the best you can do is test out of a course by taking the final. I guess that means that the poster isn't at a university (or is maybe taking GED courses?)

Also note: linear algebra was a first year course when I was majoring in compsci, it's not teh advanced even though the word "linear" makes it seem fancy.

My friend at Cornell can attest to the existence of honors courses, at least in his school: he got his ass whooped by Honors Chemistry this semester

Ah yes, and the junior college near where I live has honors courses as well. And they have math placement exams.

And if one is taking a college algebra exam, linear algbra really is that much more difficult than college algebra. I believe the impact of the student in question's experiences are merited to be more than what you make them out to be, Jarvik.

My university has both honors math courses, as well as honors courses of every kind. Graduating with honors means taking and passing at least one honors class per semester while maintaining above a 3.25 overall GPA.

But, I suppose Jarvik is the expert. I wish I had known that I was really just working toward a GED all this time. I wouldn't have told all those people that I'm in college. Now I feel silly.

I did an honours degree, effectively it's another degree level between a degree and a masters lasting a year.

I also had to take a placement test for maths, they wouldn't let anyone register for the course unless their school leaving mark wasn't high enough. At the end of the first week they gave out a test, everyone who failed was kicked out of the course (they had the misfortune of doing a 1 year course over 2 years instead). Pretty effective really, it reduced the class size by 70% percent, and probably less than half the remainder didn't pass at the end of the year.

In the UK an honours degree is 3 years and is more intensive than a plain Bachelor's Degree, requiring you to earn a higher number of credits and achieve above a certain mark. Even if you take an honours course you can still get a standard degree by doing badly.

This doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone do more than the absolute minimum required amount of work to earn a degree??

Because having a non-honours degree is like wearing a dunce hat. To be honest though degrees are so easy to pass with minimal application that you have to actively try not to get honours. The whole point of assessing them is to sort the wheat from the chaff. IMHO too much chaff gets through.

nest0r Wrote:This doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone do more than the absolute minimum required amount of work to earn a degree??

I usually take honors courses just because they actually tend to end up being easier, on account of the smaller class sizes and increased opportunity to interact with the professor.

In Sweden there's no such bullshit as a honours degree. You complete a bachelors degree then get access to master courses, leading to the master degree. You can get specialized bachelors but it's just a decently irrelevant subtitle, a historical leftover from before the Bologna process.

this site is going to be great since I have really gotta brush up on my Math skills this summer. I gotta take the AFOQT as soon as this fall semester begins. I think this might be the only way that I have a chance. (book studying Math KILLS me) I was just wondering if any of you geniuses out there might want to start a website of this same style and nature targeted towards Japanese Grammar and/or learning kanji and new words. what do you guys think?

Khan just got some love from Bill Gates himself:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/23/technolo.../index.htm

Eikyu Wrote:Khan just got some love from Bill Gates himself:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/23/technolo.../index.htm

thanks for posting the link.

Khan Academy was just awarded $2m from Google in a contest to find 5 ideas that will change the world!

http://singularityhub.com/2010/09/27/kha...om-google/

Really exciting to see that this kind of open source education movement has been getting support from some very major players. I can't wait to see what developments come out of Khan Academy as a result of this.