"Khan" he turn the system upside down?

Like a lot of people, math was always the bane of my existence. Back in school, I used to curse every number invented and every problem I couldn’t solve (which was more than half the exercise book). My teachers could not understand how I could make a math problem look like an English essay. My father (a patron of the mathematics) could not understand how any daughter of his could ever be so terrible at it. It was just a matter of numbers and genes, he said. But in the end, no amount of tears and tantrums (not my own, I was quite apathetic to it all) could get me to solve a math problem correctly, so I was glad to be rid of the subject as I entered college.

Recently however, I had to give a standardized test which required me to reawaken that long lost cause and actually solve math problems, something I had happily not done in 5 years. All those years of painful attempts at number crunching came rushing back and I had no choice but to try and relearn things I had given up on years back. 

That is when I heard about Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org). It is a site that provides thousands of free ten minute tutorials on math (and on other subjects too like history, accounts, economics, etc), starting with the very basics and continuing into college level math and calculus. The videos are all made by an Indian-American named Salman Khan, who was initially a manager at a hedge fund, but gave up his career to become “Bill Gates’ favorite teacher”. The learning experience is enhanced with practice sessions that allow the user to solve as many generated problems as they need to get 10 correct in a row before they attain proficiency in that topic.

Needless to say, I was able to learn a lot of math all over again, and math didn’t seem as terrible to me as it did for most of my life. But going beyond the initial satisfaction of using the site, I began seeing its potential in turning the education system quite literally upside down. One of Sal’s (as he calls himself) main objectives is to do this very thing. He believes that the actual learning of the lesson would become the homework while the solving of problems (traditional homework) would become the class work. He believes that students prefer this method of studying because they can study at their own pace, pausing and rewinding the teacher if they wish too. And then, once they have studied the lesson at home, they can come to class and solve problems in front of the teacher where the teacher can give personalized attention to each student’s difficulties and help them where needed.

The academy has immense potential in changing the educational system as a whole. The traditional methods of teaching, where a bored teacher drones on in front of 60 odd and equally (if not more) bored students who are all sleeping or day dreaming, will be eliminated. The learning would become a “human” experience where the student has an almost one-on-one connection with the teacher and has the liberty to pause, rewind, skip or fast forward the teacher on their own time, in the comfort and security of their own room.

However, the down side of this type of education is that a child firstly must have access to a computer and internet both in school and at home. This is still a problem in most developing countries of the world like our own. However, this problem seems to be solving itself over the years with the infiltration of computers in almost every nook and cranny of the world.

But then, to what extent will a child from a lower economic background benefit from such education? Even if such students were somehow to acquire free means of internet and access to a computer even at home, how is it to give time to study? Not just in India, but all over the world and even in countries like the USA, students who come from lower economic backgrounds often work after school hours to help make money for the family or even for themselves as pocket money. The school hours are the only time they have to learn. For them, this upside-down system would not be as beneficial as it is for people who have full and free access to computers and internet.

One solution to this problem would be to allow the students to learn in class as well as practice later in class or at home. This would create a completely new method of schooling which would be a round-the-clock method where the student could access his profile on the site at any time even outside class to practice, though the main learning would take place in the classroom. This system however, is not upside down, but merely a 24/7 transformation of the present day system. This would change the traditional length of education as well with some students speeding through a year’s syllabus in a month and some students taking double the amount of time. However, it would create a standard syllabus that would be common for all. Also, it would make the profession of teaching almost obsolete.

The site and the academy come highly recommended by a dedicated user like me. But to what extent it will be able to “invert” the system remains to be seen. Happy learning!

Rote Really Isn't Right

As a child in school, I was NEVER the teacher’s pet or the class prefect or even a “first-bencher”. Those accolades were reserved for the smart kids. I was always on the last bench, dreaming about the book that was hidden in my bag, which would come out as soon as the teacher turned her back. And unfortunately for me, the teachers, who were hell-bent on me memorizing the Pythagoras theorem and Newton’s third law of gravity, never appreciated my care-free spirit. Hence, every month end, when my mother had to come to school to meet the teachers, she would find me just walking the red line.

I was constantly told that I had the potential but I just did not apply myself. I could be a topper if I wanted to, but I was lazy and I did not study because I was going through a rebellious stage. They constantly complained to my mother saying that my head was too filled with clouds and nothing else. Hormones were apparently the cause of this serious problem that was my over-imaginative mind.

Is this called an education? Shouldn’t a child be taught to learn and grow on his own, rather than memorize what has been done centuries ago by Pythagoras and Newton? Sure, a little help from the experience is needed, and I’m not saying that such things are not important, but learning by rote is not the end of it. We should be able to apply what we have been taught. If we learn everything through books, but cannot apply the concept in real life, then what is the point of that knowledge? It will just flow right out our heads like a leaky bucket.

I asked my little three year old brother what he wants to be once he grows up. He said in all seriousness and solemnity that he wants to be an elephant. When I asked him why, he promptly replied that elephants did not have to memorize anything. I had still not understood what he meant, and so he explained to me (with all the patience of an adult explaining to a child) that our grandmother had told him that elephant’s had a great memory and so, his inference was that if he became an elephant, he would not have to memorize his ABCs and nursery rhymes, because he would remember them in one go.

I knew immediately when he said this that this child was going to turn out like me. He was going to be called stupid in school and told that he should not dream but study, memorize and learn by heart. But doesn’t it require at least a little intelligence for a child of three to come up with a thought like that? Children are constantly learning and absorbing the things around them. This could be called their “memorizing” of the world, if you will. But giving them practical knowledge of the world will just enhance their understanding of that very same world.

By telling a child over and over again that he must or mustn’t do something, we are just crippling the child’s intellect. We are stunting its imagination, its reasoning and its understanding of the world. But by explaining to a child why some things should or should not be done, we are giving him a chance to think for himself. Parents of young children know and employ this technique often. They often have to deal with their inquisitive young ones and their constant questions, and most of the time they try to answer those questions. They know that if they tell their child not to put a fork in the microwave, the child will inevitably be curious to know what would happen; but if they explain to the child that by doing that, the microwave will explode, they will save themselves a lot of money. (My mother learned that the hard way). However, somewhere in the growing-up years, this technique is lost in the oblivion of the universe and as a result, life becomes about rules and how to memorize them.

Basically, to make a child memorize and learn by rote is not educating the child, but training it. Even dogs can be trained. But to explain, and thus broaden its horizons, is to share knowledge and to make it think. That is definitely something that most dogs cannot do, with the fair exception of the average Indian politician (though I believe his brain activity is not too significant either).