Monthly Archives: September 2010
A Supplement to or Substitute for Formal Education?
What is required for learning to take place? Professors, classrooms, lectures, and labs are commonly associated as being one and the same with a proper education. Sal Khan has set out to change that. With his founding of Khan Academy, Khan has reached everyone from traditional students to residents of the Middle East to Bill Gates by posting short—often 10 to 15 minute clips—corresponding to curriculums ranging from kindergarten to college to professional studies.
Unlike Wikipedia which is a free online encyclopedia editable by anyone, the free lessons taught in Khan Academy are entirely of the instruction of Sal Khan. Topics include lessons in math, science, humanities and test preparation. Google loved the idea, recently awarding Khan Academy with $2 million “to translate their core library into the world’s most widely spoken languages” during Google’s Project 10100.
In the Fortune magazine article, “Bill Gates’ favorite teacher,” critics argue that the Khan Academy isn’t an academy, but rather more of a library. Nevertheless, Khan desires that the Khan Academy expands to become a premier source of tuition-free learning for all students.
“Every student must be a gentleman”
—Robert E. Lee
When Robert E. Lee assumed the presidency of Washington College, now known as Washington and Lee University, he bestowed upon the school an atmosphere of trust, removing all formal rules but imposing just one: “Every student must be a gentleman.” Today, this value translates into the Washington and Lee Honor System.
The Honor System of Washington and Lee is one of the most guarded traditions of the university. A completely student-run system, the Honor System insures that the W&L diploma is only earned honorably. Last Saturday, as thousands have done before me, I signed the Honor System book, pledging that I will uphold the values of the university. More importantly, however, each student at W&L takes the same pledge which truly leads to a community of trust.
The 2002-2003 Washington and Lee Executive Committee (President Gerald Titus happens to hail from West Virginia) compiled two videos which are currently used during the orientation of the Honor System for first-year students. They contain a great deal of information and can found below:
Ready for class
Today begins the winding down of Orientation Week at Washington and Lee University. Earlier, we all received our class schedules, visited the activities fair, and sometime in between took a swim test. (Washington and Lee is one of the few schools that continue to require students to be able to swim before receiving a diploma.)
As one who is interested in business and law, I registered for politics and economics classes and picked up calculus and a writing seminar to complement. I also had my first experience of sticker shock after purchasing my textbooks.
This week has been great. I’m sad to see it come to a close, but happy to know that I will be spending the next four years in Lexington with the great people that I have met and will meet very soon.
Pastor fights radicalism… with radicalism
September 11th was host to one of the most deplorable tragedies in our country’s history. What emerged from this day was a country that became more unified, but not without its scars. Although I did not lose any loved ones in the twin towers, it was by chance that one of my relatives decided not to board her train under the twin towers, thereby saving herself from what could have been a very grave outcome.
Understandably, the country as a whole, including myself, have taken the attack on the World Trade Center as an attack on America and on the “domestic tranquility” that our Founding Fathers valued so deeply. Today, headlines took hold of a Florida pastor who founded “International Burn a Koran Day.” My first reaction was simply shock, but when I watched the interview earlier today, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing: a pastor fighting a radical massacre with what the Attorney General sites as an idiotic and dangerous plan.
This story is about more than just a battle of opinions, it has turned into possibly a battle of life and death. It can be said with reasonable certainty that acts like “International Burn a Koran Day” will further incite violence where our troops are now stationed. There’s a point that should just not be crossed when it comes to jeopardizing the lives of the men and women in uniform.
Nevertheless, as the Constitution allows my speech deploring this act, it also protects those who take part and approve of it.
