Ask Sal Anything! Homeroom Wednesday, July 22

Foreign

Hi everyone, welcome to our homeroom live stream. Uh, Sal here from Khan Academy. I do have one announcement. I think we've already made this on social media and email, but just to make sure everyone's on the same page: today was supposed to be the day that we're going to have Dr. Fauci on. I know myself and everyone here is probably very excited about that.

Uh, unfortunately, unfortunately, uh, he had to cancel for today, but it got rescheduled till Friday. So, same time on Friday, hopefully we're going to have Dr. Fauci. So continue to be very excited about that, and my apologies for those of you all who have, uh, showed up today and might be somewhat disappointed only to see me. So once again, Dr. Fauci is going to be on Friday, not today.

Today we're going to do an ask me anything, so start putting your questions in on Facebook and YouTube, and I will get to them. And before we do that, I will do my standard announcement. Remind folks that Khan Academy is a not-for-profit that we can only exist with philanthropic donations from folks like yourself. So definitely if you're in a position to do so, go to khanacademy.org/donate.

I want to give special thanks to several organizations that stepped up during, uh, the COVID crisis: the school closures, when they realized that we were already running at a deficit pre-COVID and that our expenses have only gone up since then. Special thanks to Bank of America, Google.org, AT&T, Fasino, Vardis, and the Amgen Foundation.

Uh, even with that significant support, we continue to run into deficit. So if in a position to do so, uh, please think about making a donation. So with that, I'm eager to answer all of your questions.

And I'll say it a couple of times because I think a lot of people were going to tune in for, uh, Dr. Fauci today. He has, as I already mentioned, he has been rescheduled until Friday, so we look forward to that. However, I have a couple of questions that have already been backed up from the last AMA, so I'll start with those.

But be sure to put whatever questions you have underneath whatever the message boards on Facebook and YouTube. So there's a question here from Anam Khan from YouTube: How did you come up with the idea to make Khan Academy give the gift of education for underfunded areas of the world?

Uh, well Adam, I've talked about this before, I talk about it a lot. Uh, and you know, there're kind of a long story about how Khan Academy started. It started as a project where I was tutoring my family, and one thing led to another, and it soon became clear that people who are not my cousins were benefiting from it.

But very quickly, I started to realize that we're in a moment, well, even pre-Khan Academy, even pre-tutoring my cousins, when you really, and this is a thought experiment I probably first went through when I was in middle school or high school, I realized if you really peel the onion on every issue in the world, whether it is economic inequality, whether it is insecurity around food or safety, whether it's gender issues or race issues, if you peel them slowly but surely, it really does often boil down to an issue of education.

It boils down to an issue of do people have critical thinking skills? Have they been able to participate in the enlightenment, so to speak? Um, and that was always in the back of my mind. So I was always fascinated with education as a lever. Like, you could have an innovation in a particular domain, but if you can allow hundreds of thousands, or millions, or billions of humans to uplevel their potential, that could create innovation and progress in thousands of domains and in millions of different areas.

And so, you fast forward to when I was tutoring my cousins, and I started making tools for them, software for them, started making videos for them. I started to realize, you know, the things that I'm doing for my cousins, in theory, they could scale to the world. It wouldn't be simple, but they could scale to the world with help, well, in partnership with many other folks.

And so that was the first time I said maybe this could, maybe Khan Academy could be an institution for the world that does that. And, you know, when I was operating out of the same walk-in closet that I am right now, because of COVID, it was a little delusional for a guy in a walk-in closet to say, “What if I could create an institution that could one day educate billions?” But, you know, sometimes you have to make a little bit of a delusional bet, but then put one foot in front of the other and make progress and keep chipping away at it.

And before you know it, as long as you are willing to keep failing forward, before you know it, you're reaching 10 people, 100 people, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, million, ten million. And, you know, today Khan Academy has over 100 million registered users, and we're nowhere near done.

Uh, there's billions of students for generations to come who could benefit from Khan Academy, and Khan Academy, uh, is doing a lot of good work, and it's much more than me now, but there's a lot more that we can do to support all these folks. But, you know, big picture, that's where the thinking came from for what Khan Academy should be.

So from Facebook, well, I'm getting a lot of questions from cons, my extended family. Maybe Zarina Khan, interesting books this late, these days, looking for a recommendation.

Um, so the book that I am reading right now, and I don't recommend it for maybe anyone under the age of 18 or 21, this was recommended by a friend of mine. It's named Shantharam. It's, and I'm not giving the book away, it's about a, um, an Australian who escapes from prison and then kind of is in exile, to some degree, in India, and how he starts working with the underworld in Bombay.

It's an interesting book, fascinating book. There's a lot of action, but there's a lot of philosophy as well, but it's also quite dark and violent. Uh, you know, I tend to be a fan, personally, of like the Disney Pixar school of movies, so it's for me, it's a little grittier than what I normally, uh, what I normally look at.

Uh, I will tell you one thing that I'm really enjoying watching these days, which is closer to the Disney Pixar, uh, flavor of entertainment. Uh, I just finished watching the, uh, Avatar: The Last Airbender series, uh, with my children. I think it's on Netflix, uh, and then we just, um, I think we have to pay money for this next one, but now we're watching the sequel, which is The Legend of Korra, and I am somewhat, uh, addicted to these. I highly, highly recommend those.

I like them because, you know, they're just good character development, they actually have some interesting philosophy in them, uh, and, and, uh, yeah, there's just really, really good stories.

Uh, other things that I've been reading lately, you know, uh, my close friends will tell you, and this, you know, I'm reading this in, I guess you could say with a non-religious lens, but really for more of a philosophical lens. You know, I've been reading a lot of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

Uh, very related to that, you know, things like the Dhammapada from Buddha. There's a lot of overlap between them, the Bhagavad Gita, and Upanishads. I've been going into kind of an exploration of, I would say, philosophy, especially Eastern philosophies, but Stoicism.

Uh, you know, which is obviously a Greek and Roman philosophical system, is actually quite close to, I would say, the underlying philosophy of the Vedas or Buddha. So those have been other areas that I've been spending a lot of time, uh, reading. And obviously that's related, I've talked before, I've been meditating a lot.

And I think there's a lot of interesting insights about, you know, who we are, especially when you start to try to still your mind a little bit.

Let's see. From YouTube, Baumin Dang says, “I'm in middle school. How can I use Khan Academy for distance learning?”

Well, uh, Baumin, we're there for you. There's a couple of ways, there's many ways you can do it. I mean, easily in math, I would say go to Khan Academy. I don't know what grade you're, unless you're in seventh grade or eighth grade or sixth grade.

Uh, go to Khan Academy, I would start at the Get Ready for Grade Level course. So let's say you're going to enter seventh grade. I would start with the Get Ready for Seventh Grade course on Khan Academy. I would take the course challenge. If on that course challenge you get an 80 or 90 percent, that means you're ready for seventh grade.

And then I would just go into seventh grade. If you've always been a little bit precocious in math, then you could even take the seventh grade course challenge and get credit for what you already know and then start working on that at your own time and pace.

If you got less than a seventy percent on the Get Ready for Grade Level course, not a big deal, just keep working on that so you have really strong foundations and then work on the grade level course. My suggested implementation for you, if you have no other support, that hopefully, you know, your parents or your teachers can support you as well.

But if you're able to put in even 30 minutes a day, I think as a middle schooler, you know, Monday through Friday, if you're even able to go up 40, 45 minutes a day into Khan Academy, maybe split it up into two sessions of 20 minutes each, you will find after about a month or two that you're making really, really good progress.

And the important thing is, when you do those 20 minutes, try to focus on the problem solving. The videos are there for support. If you have trouble with something, you can look at hints, see how a solution, the solution to whatever you might have missed.

But keep reflecting on what you're working on, use the videos to get yourself introduced to new concepts or clarify concepts that you're having trouble understanding. But keep working on the exercises. I would suspect that if you keep doing that, even over a few months, you're going to notice a very big difference in your confidence in mathematics and how far you've been accelerating.

If you just keep doing that, I think regardless of where you start, within a year you'll be ahead of where, uh, you need to be. So that's in math.

And, you know, your middle school student, we have a lot of high school science. I do think some of the high school science could be, uh, consumable by you. I would say especially biology, uh, I would so... that's something to explore.

Uh, some of the biology content, I think some of the early chemistry content on Khan Academy you could also start looking at the physics. You need a little bit more math. If you're precocious in math and you know, a little bit of algebra and trig, then you really need to do quadratics and the basics of trigonometry in order to engage in our physics course.

But I would say the chemistry and biology for sure. And then on the humanities side, that's where, you know, my record, we don't have as much for you as a middle school student.

Uh, we do have some beta English and language arts, uh, things that you can do to practice reading comprehension. What I do recommend, actually, now that I think about it, is you could, and I'm not saying, you know, I'm not trying to be a tiger cousin telling you to take an SAT when you're in middle school.

Although there are some programs that if you take the SAT in middle school, you can get into some summer camps and scholarships and whatever else. But I would say our SAT practice, which covers reading, writing, and mathematics, it actually is really good to start as a middle schooler.

Once again, not because you need to take the SAT when you're in seventh or eighth grade, but because some of those concepts, the easier questions on the SAT are actually roughly at a middle school level.

And so if you get practice with that, it'll stretch you a little bit into kind of more advanced middle school and high school topics, and then you'll have really good development at least on the baseline, reading comprehension, grammar, and then on the math as well.

You could do the SAT work or you could do the Khan Academy work. I think if you did that during social distancing during COVID, uh, you will, you'll be quite, you'll, you'll be doing all right.

And then I would supplement that, or on top of that, I would make sure to be doing some regular reading every day, do some reading for fun, read some newspapers, magazines, and do some regular writing, whether it's journaling.

Try to force yourself to write a weekly blog post and email it to all your family for so they give feedback, you know, just things that you care about. Uh, just get in the habit of writing about it. I think if you do that handful of things, uh, you're going to be in good shape, uh, as we go through this very difficult period.

So from YouTube, A Space Z says, “Sal, how are you coping with quarantine?”

Uh, thanks for asking, AZ. So, you know, if I'm honest, I almost feel guilty. I feel very blessed. Um, quarantine has been kind to me. My children's school has done a wonderful job of keeping them with, um, kind of distance learning, keeping up with them.

My wife has been incredibly supportive. Many of y'all know she's a physician. Uh, but you know, she's able to work, uh, three days a week. So two days, she's able to help.

Um, you know, I'm here in the house with the kids, but obviously I'm, I'm kind of, you know, super into my work a lot of that time, so it really helps that my wife is here two days a week. And then my mother-in-law lives with us, and, uh, and you know, I know the mother-in-law stereotype can go in different directions, but I have a very, very, very good mother-in-law, and she definitely, um, is a great person to have around and, and is really great with the kids and, and help support, uh, our entire family.

And so I feel, uh, very fortunate on that level. Uh, I think on the Khan Academy, on my work level, you know, there's some puts and takes. I know it's been hard on many people in the organization, especially with child care issues. Our organization itself has done a good job. We always had a lot of distributed employees, so this was kind of natural for us to do a lot of our work in a distributed or remote way.

Uh, I think, you know, Khan Academy has had a very big role to play, uh, in this COVID world. So, you know, we definitely have a lot to do, and I, you know, in some ways feel lucky that there's a role for us to play to help people, to keep, help folks keep learning during social distancing.

Uh, many of you all know I'm not a big fan of planes. I like, I like travel once I get to the place that I'm getting to. I like looking at new places and exploring new places and meeting new folks, but I really don't like planes, if I'm very honest with you. I just don't like them for many, many, many reasons.

Um, and so I do consider it a little bit of a blessing that I haven't had to get on a plane in many, many months. In fact, I consider that a massive blessing.

Um, and, uh, um, yeah, so overall, you know, considering what's going on in the world, I consider myself very lucky, but, you know, some of this is sitting very close to home. One of my, one of our good friends, her father, um, in Maryland passed due to COVID. So, you know, it's not like this is, you know, this is a real thing that's happening, um, to folks all around.

But, but relatively speaking, I'm, I, you know, I'm doing just fine. Uh, but, but thanks, thanks, thanks for asking.

So let's see. Um, there is from YouTube, Prisha B says, “What should I say to a person who thinks that being knowledgeable is just getting good grades?”

Um, well, you know, well if, no matter what you're, you're asking me about one thing, you know, you learn over time is it, it's hard to, it's hard to change someone.

Um, so, you know, there might not be anything that you could tell them that would, you know, overnight make them change how they perceive the world. Getting good grades is helpful, uh, but really, you know, getting good grades is a mechanism or a means or a incentive mechanism, hopefully, to get knowledge.

And I think what you're implying is there are some very knowledgeable people who, who might not have the best grades or didn't have the best grades, and there are some people who had very, who have very good grades who might not be, you know, wise to the world, so to speak. Uh, is what I think you're going at.

And these things don't actually, you know, they might be correlated, but they're not a, you know, they're not as a strong correlation as maybe your friend, uh, might, might imply.

So I think, um, you know, well, if you could show them the video of what I'm about to say which is, uh, you know, I've always optimized my life. I actually, I, I got mostly A's, but I always optimized for the learning. I was always more about, “Hey, this is interesting, let me learn it. I'm curious about it.”

And my grades will be what they are, and you know, I got my share of A minuses and, you know, I got a B here and there.

Uh, and, uh, but I like, and it was usually I got the A minuses or the B's because I wasn't trying to optimize for the grade. I was out trying to optimize for the knowledge, which usually correlated with the grade.

Uh, but I think, uh, that made school way more interesting for me, and it, and it, it, it gave me a really strong foundation, I think, of curiosity and being able to connect things in the world.

And I also think, you know, what even when you think about things like college admissions, you know, there's sometimes a notion that, you know, if I get one B or even one A minus, I'm out of the running.

And I know college admissions and things like that, they're super competitive, or even certain jobs, your GPA has to be, you know, a certain threshold for you to look at it.

So grades matter in that, but I found that if your grades are decent or quite, you know, good, but maybe not absolutely perfect, but you are able to show real capability and curiosity and knowledge in other areas, that is really, you know, shines in certain ways, stands out in certain ways that you'll be at least as successful as, you know, the absolute, uh, perfect grades.

So, you know, I'm not anti-grades. You should definitely do what you can to get them, as, you know, people do look at those things.

Uh, but they're, they're, uh, maybe they're necessary but they're not sufficient, I would say, if you really want to appreciate the beauty and the mystery of the world.

So let's see, and I'll say frankly a lot of the knowledge that I have I've gotten after I left the school system, so I'm not being graded anymore.

So if you want to stay knowledgeable, you have to keep wanting to learn even when no one's grading you. Alright, so let's see other questions.

Um, from Facebook, Cecilia Loong says, “Hi Sal, would love to hear more about your meditation. What you do, where does your thought go, how long, how did you find it before and after, etc?”

Well, uh, thanks for the question, Cecilia. And you know, I wanna, I like to be careful on, on this live stream. I don't wanna turn into, you know, someone on a soapbox, you know, just telling people about my meditation, et cetera, et cetera.

But you know, what actually got me in, I was always kind of intrigued by meditation. I've always heard about it. Uh, when I was younger, I tried it and I just didn't make sense to me. I'd be like, okay, I sit quietly and my brain's like, why are you doing this? This is a waste of time, and your thoughts start wandering, so it never really made a lot of sense to me.

And then, you know, y'all just heard that I don't like planes. And if I'm very open with you, like, you know, it was planes, it's, it's, there was a little bit of the fear of flying. I did always come to terms with death before getting on a plane.

So I've come to terms with death many times, I think. Uh, but more than that, actually, it was actually the claustrophobia for me.

Uh, and I actually didn't even know what claustrophobia was. You know, I knew what it was, I knew people had fear of small places, but I never understood what a phobia was until I started to experience it.

Uh, myself when, and you know, people say it often hits you in your late 30s or early 40s. Oftentimes, if you're a parent, you know, whatever: claustrophobia or anxiety or whatever you might call it, you know, we could theorize why maybe as a parent you're always anxious as to what might go wrong with your children, and then that, that kind of hardwires those circuits.

But for whatever reason, about five, six years ago, I never liked planes, but about five, six years ago, the claustrophobia got quite bad, or I would get on a plane and all I could think about is, “Wow, I have to sit in this plane for the next five hours. It's like this capsule, I can't get off of it.”

And then your brain just starts doing these very irrational things. You know, a part of your brain thinks, “Hey brain, you're being irrational, chill out. Just, you know, watch a movie and read a book and take a nap and you're going to be in New York before you know it.”

But it's a very unpleasant feeling for anyone who has gone through that. It's arguably one of the worst feelings, uh, you can have.

And, um, I was talking about this with a board member of mine who has to travel, frankly, way more than I, I have to travel. And he says, well, you know, I actually have had the same issue, uh, and meditation really helped.

And I was like, okay, well, I'm, I'll try it. You know, I, I, I didn't want to resort to having to do any, you know, medication or anything like that if I didn't have to. So I'm like, let me try meditation.

And so, uh, you know, on his recommendation, I downloaded the Headspace app and I started doing that somewhat religiously. You know, I did, you know, 10 minutes a day for, uh, two to three months and I kind of started getting into that pattern.

And then I started to actually see the benefits of it, that it really, um, got your mind stilled. Instead of allowing your mind to kind of race in a bunch of different directions, you do, uh, as you get more and more practice, get to a spot, you know, not all the time. My mind still wanders, but more often or more common than not now, I'm able to get my mind into a place where it's kind of still.

And there's, there's kind of that, this thought, and when you do that regularly, you're less likely to get worked up, you're less likely to get anxious. You know, even now if I'm at work or in other areas, and you know, a debate is happening that normally I would get very worked up about, now I'm much more zen about it.

I'm like, look Sal, you know, do what you need to do but don't get too, too worked up. You know, these, these thoughts aren't you; this, you aren't defined by whether you win or lose this debate.

Um, etc. So, so anyway, that's how I got into meditation. I would say after a few months, I kind of just, you know, I guess you could say graduated from the app.

And now I do, uh, at least I try to do at least 30 minutes a day. And, um, you know, I just sit quietly, uh, with, you know, upright posture, and, and, um, you know, I do kind of a body scan so to speak, just become aware of my surroundings.

But then I try to just, you know, still my mind and just kind of sit in that, in that moment. And my mind definitely does still gravitate to, oh, you gotta do this for work, oh, you forgot to take out the trash, oh, why did that person say that to you the other day? Where did they do, do they mean what you think they said?

So your brain, your brain, your brain definitely wanders. But then the other key is laugh it off. A lot of people take meditation a little bit too seriously and then they, it becomes stressed out.

Like, you know, you start meditating and there's like a lawnmower outside, you're like, oh lawnmower, I can't stand the lawnmower. And then obviously that defeats the purpose. What you really should do is like, oh, that's interesting, there's a lawnmower. A lawnmower is part of this reality. How nice.

So the more that you smile, externally and internally while you meditate, and the more that you're accepting of whatever sensations, uh, whatever thoughts come about, you don't try to fight them. He's like, oh, look at that thought, that's not the most positive thought, but it's one of the thoughts.

So here thought, why don't you move on a little bit? I think that the healthier it can be.

So, um, from Facebook, Melanie Cashore asks, “How can I, as a parent, instill or encourage curiosity in my 8 and 10 year olds? Thanks, and please expand to older ages too.”

So you know, it's interesting because I actually think all kids have curiosity pre-installed, so to speak. So I don't think you have to instill them with it; there are, it's already there.

I think what you need to do is give space for it and not, um, squeeze it out. And, uh, you know, most kids, the way you give space for it is when they want to take an old toilet paper roll or a box and they want to make something.

As a parent, and I have to remind this to myself all the time, you know, half the time me or my wife, we're like, oh, we're busy, we have to go to this thing, or you're late for this practice; or I'm busy, don't bother me.

You know, wait, why are you making a mess over there? You know, these are natural parent things to do every now and then. And I, I have to admit, I'm not great at this. I often fall into what I just described. I'm like, wait, wait, this is really cool what my daughter wants to do.

She wants to cut up that thing that I was about to throw away and make this thing; maybe I should sit down with her and work with her a little bit.

Um, you know, okay, they wanna, maybe they'll make a little bit of a mess if they try to take those paints and do this with it on the kitchen counter and this and that, but maybe a little bit of that's okay.

And I, and, you know, I, I don't practice what I preach all the time, just to be very clear. You know, I'm even thinking about some times in my own head over the last week where I probably shut down my kids' creativity by telling them, “Hey, hey, no, don't make a mess over there. Wait, wait, we just cleaned the room.”

Or, “Wait, wait, why do you wanna, why are you digging in the trash? Why are you taking that box out? I just flattened it.” You know, like whatever else.

So I think giving that space for them is key. I think giving, you know, sitting down with them on the ground and doing it with them. I actually think there's a lot about modeling creativity for them.

You know, a lot of adults kind of think they're past the age where they should sit down and draw, they should sit down and write a poem or sing a song or compose a song. So that's another area.

You know, I think a lot of our, what in theory are creative pursuits like, um, playing a musical instrument or, uh, or, or visual arts in our goal-oriented world oftentimes become less creative, where you just, you know, in the musical instrument, okay, now play a harder piece. Okay, now play a harder piece, learn to, you know, learn this technique, learn that technique.

Well really, the musical instruments are about creative expression. Uh, and so, you know, I think the more that we can emphasize, say young piano learners to also compose their own pieces, which you don't see in piano class, you know.

So, you know, even my son has a great piano teacher, and he's doing a great job, but, you know, I definitely encourage my son: compose your own pieces. This is about expression. This is not just about being able to play a more difficult piece a little bit faster with a little bit more technical sophistication.

That's useful too; that's going to build your underlying skills, but there's a whole creative aspect to this. I would say even in, you know, in math, a lot of what you might learn, these are the techniques, these are the tools, but math is also a creative field.

And so, you know, always have some fun enriching problems to do. You know, me and my kids, we've been doing some number theory, which obviously isn't in the Common Core standards or anything, but they're just these interesting logic puzzles and number theory puzzles, uh, that you have to be, you have to kind of a creative mindset to try to think of a solution or try to think of a proof.

So yeah, I would say model it with them, participate with them, and you know, get out of their way a lot of times. And I would also say don't overschedule them.

Uh, this, you know, creativity is oftentimes a byproduct of boredom. So a little bit of boredom, uh, is, is good. And over, over time, any human being who's sufficiently bored will figure out something to do, and that usually is a creative activity.

So this is from the other questions.

Um, from Facebook, Julie Ramos Jones, I have a junior in high school who will be starting distance learning in August. What can I do to help her succeed accomplishing her graduation requirements through distance learning?

So, Julie, I don't know all of your, uh, all of your daughter's circumstances. So I think on the learning side, a lot of the advice that I gave to the middle school student a couple of minutes ago, I think would apply to your daughter.

You know, math, we've got her back, whatever level she's at, whether she's at trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus, stats, work on Khan Academy. I would say two 30-minute sessions a day would be incredible.

Uh, hopefully she has support from her school or her peers or from you if she gets stuck on anything.

Um, actually, there's this other effort that I've talked about here before called schoolhouse.world, which is not a Khan Academy effort; it's a separate effort. Maybe one day it becomes a Khan Academy effort, uh, but it's to pair students who need help with the subject, especially in math. We're starting in math, but eventually might go to other subjects, and volunteer tutors running group tutoring sessions.

So that's another layer of support that we might be able to also provide or that, you know, this side project might be able to provide schoolhouse.world. So between Khan Academy, she should be able to get enough practice in math and then get these other supports.

And then in science, we also have got her back on, you know, we have high school and AP level physics, chemistry, biology, econ, also in the humanities: American history and government and politics. I'd say all of that content is perfect for the age that your daughter's at.

If the question is around credit, you know, this is going to be really interesting this year, uh, where colleges are going to have a lot less information. A lot of schools have gone to pass/fail, or they're just passing everyone because of, you know, inequity access of devices and things.

And so I think, um, the successful students are going to have to come up with alternate ways of showing colleges, uh, that they've, they've made it and or that they've not made it, that they've, they've reached the, they've met the requirements and that they know the material.

Meeting the requirements, most, if you're thinking about like the state university systems, most state university systems have an alternative way to prove your competencies.

Uh, most private schools, at the end of the day, tend to be less rigid about most project. Colleges tend to be less rigid about their requirements. More that they want to see are you college ready? Are you, you know, are you a caring person who wants to help the world? Are you, you know, what are your capabilities in different subject areas?

And there's a lot of ways you can show that. You can do that with SAT; maybe you can even show your mastery. We had, um, Jim Nandor from the University of Chicago on this live stream a couple of months ago, and you know, Jim and I have been talking about, well, he would love to see kids submit their Khan Academy mastery, because not only would that, let's say your daughter is able to get 90 mastery on calculus on Khan Academy, if she wanted to apply to the University of Chicago and she submitted that from Jim's point of view, not only would that be a pretty good indication that she knows her calculus, but it also is an indication that she's a self-learner, she has a lot of agency.

You know, even in a tough time like COVID, when a lot of things are hit and miss, she's able to drive her own learning forward, which I think would look good. I also think, you know, people don't use video enough. A video is a great way to advocate for yourself.

One thing that I do, and the few times, you know, every now and then, whether, you know, it's a student that I've worked with or whatever wants a recommendation, I actually make recommendation videos for them because it becomes, it's, you can't fake that.

It's like, you know, it's not like someone else wrote it and just signed it, and I would say you can advocate yourself in that same way. If you can create video artifacts that show things that you've created, that show you explaining concepts, then that only adds to your portfolio to show that not only do you know the material, not only have you done cool creative things, but you also know how to communicate your work.

Uh, and, and I think that is also another way to self-advocate, frankly, at any age, at any age. So anyway, those are my ideas.

I am trying to talk to state leaders, college folks for what if Khan Academy itself mastery on Khan Academy could count towards the state requirements for graduation, or towards the state university requirements?

Uh, you know, maybe there's a way that a teacher can validate that it's the student's work, proctor them some way. Maybe you could take a course challenge on Khan Academy and talk out loud on audio while you're doing it and submit the audio too.

So people like look: I clearly did this work, I'm thinking out loud doing every problem; that's hard to fake. I saw stuff like that.

But it's going to be an interesting challenge, especially if COVID lasts, and it looks like it very well could last for another year or even longer.

So we're all out of time. This, these, these always go, um, these always go super fast. So I'll answer one last question from Facebook.

Selma Malik says, “My eight-year-old is interested in coding, but I don't want to encourage too much screen time. He likes Scratch. What else should he do?”

How old are your kids? Well, my kids are 11, 9, and 5 and a half, and they are also into coding. They've used Scratch, they've used Tinkercad, they've used the Khan Academy coding.

I, you know, screen time is an interesting debate. I think if a child is doing really creative things like writing on, on a screen, like writing a paper or a blog post or if they're editing video or if they are coding, that is a good use of screen time.

And so for a child that is eager to code, I would say yes, definitely let them code. But the more important thing is make sure that they're also getting other healthy things in their life, making sure that they're spending a good amount of time getting their vitamin D out in the sun, running around, getting breathless as much as possible in this COVID-19 socially distance world.

They're able to interact with other people, have social connections, that they have just free time to themselves, that there's time with the family, that they're eating right, sleeping right. If they're doing all that stuff, coding is great, and it's a great outlet for creativity.

You know, I remember, I, I didn't, I didn't, I, you know, I didn't start coding until later. Uh, and, but it was an incredible outlet for creativity for me.

And sometimes when I was really into creating a new game or a new app, you know, I would spend 12 hours straight, and I don't, and I think almost anyone who who's really immersed in a creative field will tell you they spend 12 hours straight at least sometimes when they're really in the zone.

And there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think that's good. Once again, as long as they're eating right, they're getting their exercise, they're running outside, they're not only on a screen all day.

Um, then I think, you know, you know, the bad screen time is where you're kind of just vegetating, you know, watching something and you're just kind of, you know, whatever. That, that's probably the stuff that, you know, watching people unpackage toys or something, that, that can be, or worse, uh, that, that could be a little less productive.

Uh, but anyway, uh, thanks everyone. These are really good questions. I'll try to get to them, uh, on the next AMA.

Uh, just a reminder to everyone who was expecting to see Anthony Fauci today, uh, we, they had to, uh, reschedule to Friday. So still very excited about that conversation.

We're gonna be talking about, obviously, COVID and school closures related to COVID, so very, very excited about that conversation.

So thanks everyone for joining. I really enjoy these ask me anythings and, uh, look forward to seeing y'all on Friday.