Salmon Khan, a 36 year old MIT and Harvard Business School graduate, has created the Khan Academy that provides over 3000 mini-lectures on line serving people throughout the world without charge.   As of early February, the web site had already delivered 119 million lessons.

In an interview in the March, 2012 Harvard Business School Bulletin, Khan explains:  “I totally believe in brick-and-mortar schools, and I want my children to attend one, but with a very different environment and set up.  Unfortunately, traditional schooling can be a dehumanizing experience.  Students are sometimes belittled and frustrated, they’re not allowed to talk, interact, or be creative….

He continued “So we’re planning to eventually open a model school in this area.  Such a school requires rethinking a lot of things.  Do you force kids away over the weekend or all summer?  …Because students are working at their own pace, do you have to separate them by age?  Also, why have teachers teaching individually in separate classrooms, why not teach together in large collaborative spaces?”

Khan speculates whether funds saved by school districts could be used to double or triple school teacher salaries to “immediately professionalizes teaching to be on a par with medicine or law because in principle it’s at least as important to society.”

The interview concludes with Khan expressing his view on life:  “When I’m 80, I want to feel that I helped give billions of people around the world access to a truly first-rate education…  I already have a beautiful wife, a hilarious son, an adorable daughter, two Hondas, and a decent home.  What else does a man need?”

The following is excerpted from and linked to  Wikipedia, since the Business School article is not available on line:

The Khan Academy is a non-profit[2] educational organization, created in 2006 by American[3] educator Salman Khan, a graduate of MIT. With the stated mission of “providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere”, the website supplies a free online collection of more than 3,000 micro lectures via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, healthcare and medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics, cosmology, organic chemistry, American civics, art history, microeconomics and computer science.[

The founder of the organization, Salman Khan, was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.[5] After earning three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (a BS in mathematics, a BS in electrical engineering and computer science, and an MS in electrical engineering and computer science), he pursued an MBA from Harvard Business School. In late 2004, Khan began tutoring his cousin Nadia in mathematics using Yahoo!’s Doodle notepad. When other relatives and friends sought similar help, he decided it would be more practical to distribute the tutorials on YouTube.[5][6] Their popularity there and the testimonials of appreciative students prompted Khan to quit his job in finance as a hedge fund analyst at Connective Capital Management in 2009, and focus on the tutorials (then released under the moniker “Khan Academy”) full-time.[6] Bill Gates once said that “I’d say we’ve moved about 160 IQ points from the hedge fund category to the teaching-many-people-in-a-leveraged-way category. It was a good day his wife let him quit his job.”[7]

The project is funded by donations. Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization,[2] now with significant backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Google. Several people have made US$10,000 contributions; Ann and John Doerr gave $100,000; total revenue is about $150,000 in donations. Additionally, it also earned $2,000 a month from ads on the Web site in 2010, until Khan Academy ceased to accept advertising.[8] In 2010, Google announced it would give the Khan Academy $2 million for creating more courses and for translating the core library into the world’s most widely spoken languages, as part of their Project 10¹⁰⁰.[9]

The major components of Khan Academy include:^[18]

• a video library with over 3000 videos in various topic areas and over 135 million lessons delivered.^[19][20] These videos are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.^[21]
• automated exercises with continuous assessment; there are 317 practice exercises, mainly in math, including four challenges and 311 individual modules.
• peer-to-peer tutoring based on objective data collected by the system, a process that will be projected in the future.

Not-for-profit partner organizations are making the content available outside YouTube. The Lewis Center for Educational Research, which is affiliated with NASA, is bringing the content into community colleges and charter schools around the United States. World Possible is creating offline snapshots of the content to distribute in rural, developing regions with limited or no access to the Internet.^[5][22]

Click here to read the full article.

NEW YORK TIMES:   ….Richard L. Sigal, a lawyer who has played roles in many fiscal crises, including New York City’s in the 1970s, was wary of bankruptcy, arguing that the Chapter 9 law does not bestow the power to tax, cut spending or borrow — the tools that struggling governments need. “I have yet to see a situation where bankruptcy is the right option for any municipality,” he said.

But Robert G. Flanders Jr., the state-appointed receiver for Central Falls, R.I., said his city’s declaration of bankruptcy had proved invaluable in helping it cut costs. Before the city declared bankruptcy, he said, he had found it impossible to wring meaningful concessions out of the city’s unions and retirees — who were being asked to give up roughly half of the pensions they had earned as the city ran out of cash.

“The municipality is on bended knee asking the retirees and unions to come to the table and give up their contract rights,” he recalled. “All of that leverage shifts once you have the gumption to pull the Chapter 9 trigger. And guess what? That produces agreements quicker and more effectively than otherwise.” …   (more)

PRESS RELEASE:  The Lancaster County C.A.S.E. (Campaign Against Sexual Exploitation of Children) invites the public to a candlelight vigil to recognize all those who have fallen victim to child sexual abuse and to show the community’s support for past and current victims.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 4, 2012

TIME: 7:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Binns Park (Stage Area), 150 North Queen Street, Lancaster, PA 17602

WHO: Lancaster County C.A.S.E.

SPEAKING: Commissioner Scott Martin, Co-Chair, Lancaster County C.A.S.E.

Ms. Bethany Woodcock, Co-Chair, Lancaster County C.A.S.E.

District Attorney Craig Stedman

Dr. Hoshauer, MD, Roseville Pediatrics

It is the mission of the Lancaster County C.A.S.E. Task Force to engage our community in protecting our children against sexual exploitation and abuse and to empower all people to speak out against offenders.

“Why is it that some on the right are actually taking this up as a cause?” Scarborough asked. “As National Review said almost immediately after it happened, this has nothing to do with gun rights, this has nothing to do with the Second Amendment, this has nothing to do with stand your ground laws, this has nothing to do with the NRA. This has everything to do with a guy that’s trying to play security cop, who is unhinged, who chased down and shot a 17-year-old kid armed with Skittles and iced tea.’”

Scarborough warned that conservative sites should follow the National Review and “not take this up as a cause.” He took issue with their portrayal of Martin in particular.

He said, “some racist websites, but also sadly some fairly mainstream websites are actually going into Trayvon Martin’s social media pages, be it Twitter or MySpace, and they’re trying to find ominous looking pictures while skipping over pictures of him holding up a birthday cake smiling, him fishing with his dad, him standing outside proudly of his home dressed in a tux ready to go to prom.”..  (more)

CBS NEWS:   The defense of George Zimmerman rests on a violent fight that he said occurred before he fired the shot that killed Trayvon Martin…

Trayvon Martin was buried in Miami with a gunshot wound to his chest. But otherwise, according to Richard Kurtz, the funeral director who prepared Martin for burial, his body showed no injuries.

“We could see no physical signs like there had been a scuffle [or] there had been a fight,” he said. “The hands — I didn’t see any knuckles, bruises or what have you. And that is something we would have covered up if it would have been there.”…  (more)

KAALTV.COM:  A federal judge upheld most of Wisconsin’s contentious law curbing collective bargaining rights on Friday, but he sided with unions in at least one key area by ruling that union dues could automatically be withdrawn from public workers’ paychecks.

The ruling keeps the majority of the law pushed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in place, though it overturns the ban on automatic dues as well as a requirement that all union members, not just those voting, approve staying organized in votes every year.

A coalition of unions filed the lawsuit last summer, shortly after the Republican-controlled Legislature approved the plan following months of bitter debate and protests that drew tens of thousands of people to the Wisconsin Capitol…  (more)

NEWSMAX:  Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly lambasted the media Friday night, singling out MSNBC and CNN, saying the media “is exploiting the terrible death of 17-year-old Trayvon by convicting the man who shot him, George Zimmerman, of wrongdoing on television.”

“It was pathetic watching the prime-time cable programs whip up the Trayvon Martin case to dangerous levels,” O’Reilly said in his Talking Points Memo. “The media exploiting the terrible death of 17-year-old Trayvon by convicting the man who shot him, George Zimmerman, of wrongdoing on television.”

O’Reilly speculated on what would happen if the Florida special prosecutor decided there is not enough evidence to prosecute Zimmerman…  (more)

NEWSMAX:  Federal prosecutors have uncovered a tax scam that potentially costs the IRS billions of dollars in phony IRS refunds based on the stolen identifies of Puerto Rican citizens, who don’t pay federal taxes.

“What we have uncovered may very well be the tip of the iceberg,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s a massive fraud.”…

Using stolen Social Security numbers — valued at $8 to $10 on the black market — scammers file fake withholding documents from companies, and then claim phony refunds by filing tax returns based on the withholding documents — often netting between $5,000 to $7,000 in a single refund…  (more) 

USA TODAY:President Obama used his Saturday radio address to demand that Congress pass the so-called “Buffett Rule” requiring millionaires to pay at least the same percentage of income taxes as middle class Americans.

Named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett — who pays a lower tax rate than his secretary — Obama said a minimum tax rate for the wealthy would insure that more Americans pay their “fair share” for the nation’s needs.

“We have a deficit that needs to be paid down,” Obama said. “And we also have to pay for investments that will help our economy grow and keep our country safe: education, research and technology, a strong military, and retirement programs like Medicare and Social Security.”…  (more)

EDITOR:  The USA doesn’t lack the wealth necessary to achieve our aspirations.  We simply are unwilling to tax ourselves as do other advanced nations and we waste much of our tax revenue through senseless wars, foolish health policies, and counter-factual drug policies.

Some American exceptionalism!

(Updated at 8:30 AM Sunday):   J. P. McCaskey Mock Trial  team  placed second in a 5 – 5 tie breaker for the Pennsylvania State Mock Trial Championship.   According to a short message from Coach Kevin Webster “Both teams were amazing.”

McCaskey lost to Scranton Prep, reportedly a perennial mock trial powerhouse, who will now go on to represent Pennsylvania in the National Finals.

On Saturday, McCaskey beat Overbrook in round one and in round two prevailed over Central High School, both from Philadelphia.

In the first round of the final four McCaskey  beat Pine Richland.

According to facultly member Coach Webster “Although it is disappointing not to move on,  the team did not view this competition as a loss because it really was a tie. The team could not have done much more. The judge let almost all of the evidence in because they are told to error on the side of letting material into the trial. Both teams were spectacular in a trial truly deserving of a state championship.”

A ‘tie’ means that the jurors split evenly  for plaintiff and defendents.  However, they also keep track of points scored and the side with the most points wins. 

The mock trial final  will be aired three times on PCN next weekend.

Members of the team are Therese Deslippe, Bill Kelly, Amanda Lam, Tracey Nguyen, Jake Moore, Candy Thomas, Zoe Turnpaugh and Sam Weaver.  Assisting Webster is Keith Moody.  Attorney advisors are Kurt Shultz and Chris Tallarico.
————

The nine regional champions competed twice each on Friday afternoon and early evening.

The results of the eighteen trials conducted yesterday were to be announced at 9:00 PM in the evening.  At 10:38 PM yesterday evening, NewsLanc received a two word message from team coach Kevin Webster:  “Final four.”

Subsequently we have learned that the state semi-final (final four) will take place at 8:30 AM today (Saturday) at the Dauphin County Courthouse.

The teams compete anonymously but it is thought that McCaskey triumphed over Overbrook High School and Central High School from the Philadelphia area, Central being perhaps the elite high school in the state.

More details will follow as they become available.

How is it that the School District of Lancaster team has done so well in mock trial competition over the past few years, losing in the regionals in 2010 through a mishap and advancing to the semi final this year?  Coach Webster deserves credit, as do the various team captions and the members who devote perhaps twenty hours a week to the task over half a year.

Another factor is McCaskey’s international  Baccalaureate Program which provides greater academic challenge and college level courses  in which so many team members have participated.

When sport teams reach state-wide finals, they receive widescale media attention, as their accomplishment deserve.  Hardly reported, if at all, are the achievements of the mock trial team, yet their members move on to college and often careers as professionals and civic leaders.