Sal Khan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sal Khan
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Khan speaking at a TED conference in 2011
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Salman Amin Khan
October 11, 1976 Metairie, Louisiana, U.S.
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| Board member of | Aspen Institute |
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Umaima Marvi
(m. 2004) |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Abdul Wahab Khan (grandfather) |
Salman "Sal" Amin Khan was born on October 11, 1976. He is an American educator. He is best known for starting Khan Academy. This is a free online learning platform. He has made over 6,500 video lessons for it. These videos teach many school subjects, especially math and science. Sal Khan also founded Khan Lab School. This is a private school in Mountain View, California.
As of January 2025, the Khan Academy YouTube channel has 8.74 million subscribers. Its videos have been watched more than two billion times. In 2012, Time magazine included Khan in its "Time 100" list of influential people. That same year, he was on the cover of Forbes magazine.
Contents
Early Life and Family Background
Sal Khan was born in Metairie, Louisiana. This was on October 11, 1976. He grew up in a Bengali Muslim family. His father, Fakhrul Amin Khan, was a doctor. His mother, Masuda Khan, is from Murshidabad, India.
Sal Khan remembers his family faced money problems when he was young. His mother earned about $16,000 in 1993. He knew this because he helped with her taxes. His grandfather, Abdul Wahab Khan, was an important politician in Pakistan.
Education and Learning Journey
Khan went to Grace King High School. He said his classmates came from many different backgrounds. Some were heading to top universities. He was also a cartoonist for the school newspaper. While in high school, Khan took advanced math classes. He studied at the University of New Orleans. He graduated as the best student in 1994.
He then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He earned two Bachelor's degrees and one Master's degree in 1998. His studies were in electrical engineering, computer science, and mathematics. In his last year, he led a charity program for his graduating class.
Khan also earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. He got this from Harvard Business School.
Career and Founding Khan Academy
From 2003 to 2009, Sal Khan worked as a financial analyst. He worked at a company called Connective Capital Management.
How Khan Academy Started
In 2004, Khan began helping his cousin, Nadia, with math. He tutored her online using a drawing tool. Soon, other family members and friends wanted his help too. So, he started putting his lessons on YouTube. He created his YouTube account on November 16, 2006.
His educational videos became very popular. Because of this, Khan quit his job in late 2009. He decided to work full-time on his YouTube channel, Khan Academy. A close friend, Josh Gefner, helped him. He also received support from Ann Doerr.
His videos gained interest from people all over the world. By 2023, Khan Academy had over 155 million registered users. Students have spent billions of hours learning on the platform.
Khan Academy's Mission and Growth
Khan's goal is to "accelerate learning for students of all ages." He wants to share his learning materials with anyone who finds them helpful. He plans to add more subjects, like English literature.
Khan wrote a book about Khan Academy and education. It is called The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined.
In 2012, Khan Academy added a "Coach" feature. This helps teachers connect with students. Teachers can use videos and tools to monitor student progress. In 2012, Khan received a Gold Medal from the American Academy of Achievement. In 2014, he received the Heinz Award.
In 2015, Khan Academy partnered with the College Board. They created free practice materials for the SAT test.
Khan believes technology can help teachers. It can free them from giving lectures. This gives them more time to help individual students. Stanford AI researcher Andrew Ng was inspired by Khan. He founded Coursera, a platform for online courses.
Khan Lab School: A New Way to Learn
Khan believes students learn best when they control their own learning. They should also work in teams to use what they learn. This idea is called a flipped classroom. His teaching style includes parts of Benjamin Bloom's Mastery Learning. This Personalized Learning method is used at his Khan Lab School. He founded this school in 2014.
Schoolhouse.world: Free Tutoring for All
In early 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Khan started Schoolhouse. This is a free non-profit program. It offers small-group tutoring to students worldwide. This tutoring happens through Zoom meetings.
Schoolhouse offers certifications. These test if students have mastered subjects. MIT, Caltech, and Case Western Reserve University accept these certifications.
Awards and Recognition
In 2016, Khan received the Padma Shri. This is a high award from the country of India. The President of India gave it to him. On May 27, 2021, Harvard University gave Khan an honorary degree.
In 2010, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation became a big supporter of Khan Academy. In 2012, Time magazine named Khan one of the 100 most influential people. Bill Gates has said, "I've used Khan Academy with my kids, and I'm amazed at the breadth of Sal's subject expertise and his ability to make complicated topics understandable."
Personal Life
Sal Khan is married to Umaima Marvi, who is a doctor. They live with their three children in Mountain View, California. Khan's first child had childhood epilepsy. The child later outgrew it. This experience helped the family realize what was most important in life.
Khan has shared his thoughts on his beliefs:
"If you believe in trying to make the best of the finite number of years we have on this planet (while not making it any worse for anyone else), think that pride and self-righteousness are the cause of most conflict and negativity, and are humbled by the vastness and mystery of the Universe, then I'm the same religion as you."
See also
In Spanish: Salman Khan (profesor) para niños
