(Photo: LeBron James)

It is a seldom recognized but nevertheless true fact that the life of the professional basketball player, devoted as it is to mind-body balance, cross-country travel and, uh, cannabis, is uniquely suited to pursuing life's deeper questions.

And if the average pro jock spends his leisure time pondering ancient puzzles as, "What are the consequences of discharging a 9 millimeter in the middle of a crowded strip club?" and, "What is the true nature of deer antler spray?" that is probably because those queries can be tested.

The answers to more abstract koans—"If Earth's history was a basketball game, when did human's appear?"—are less easily known. Unless, of course, the hoopster asking the question happens to know Sal Khan.

Since at least last June, reigning NBA most valuable player LeBron James has been bouncing his deepest thoughts off the Khan Academy founder, who in turn has made Mr. James' preoccupations a launching pad for math and science lessons.

Among LeBron's asks? Elemental queries such as "How does shooting basketball illustrate Newton's 3rd Law?" and "Why does humidity make it feel hotter?" Also, more complex questions: Should Mr. James shoot a three-pointer as time expires? Mr. Khan shows us how to write a Monte Carlo to find out.

All of which should express the depth of Mr. James' interests. Not only is he concerned with practical matters such as end-game strategy, but also abstractions such as, Does Khan Academy represent the vanguard in the future of education or are massively open online courses a massively terrible idea?

We hope Mr. James lets us know when he knows.

Absolutely related. (Image: Memory-Alpha.org)

The pissing match between Mathalicious founder Karim Kai Ani and Khan Academy founder Salman "Sal" Khan is heating up! Today Mr. Khan responded to Mr. Ani's recent Washington Post editorial which questioned the hype surrounding Khan Academy's mission to tutor math students with free online videos and also criticized Mr. Khan's teaching ability. Mr. Khan offered a new correction to Mr. Ani's correction of the definition of slope (so meta!) and may have outed his critic as low-down dirty profiteer in his email response to Valerie Strauss, the anchor for the Post's Answer Sheet education blog:

I also think you might misunderstand our "business model." Unlike Mathalicious which is for-profit (and if it does well, Karim will become very wealthy), Khan Academy is a 501c3 not-for-profit. I take a salary from it that is approved by the board, but I do not own it (no one does). It can never IPO or be sold. It is a public charity.

BOOM! We can only hope they will eventually take this offline and go old school with hand-to-hand slide rules and compasses.

Below, Mr. Khan's video illustrating the correct definition of slope. Intense stuff.

Don't get struck by lightning when hanging with Bill Gates. (Photo: jurvetson)

We're calling it: This Mystery Science Theater 3000 trolling  of Sal Khan’s Khan Academy videos, posted in June, was the beginning of an inevitable backlash against the breathless hype about Khan’s abilities as an instructor.

Today, in  "Khan Academy: The hype and the reality" in the Washington Post, math coach and Mathalicious founder Karim Kai Ani put some sting in the criticism with a much more direct, serious approach to criticizing the Bill Gates-backed "Messiah of Math":

... [The] truth is that there’s nothing revolutionary about Khan Academy at all. In fact, Khan’s style of instruction is identical to what students have seen for generations: a do this then do this approach to teaching that presents mathematics as a meaningless series of steps. Khan himself says that “math is not just random things to memorize and regurgitate,” yet that’s exactly how his videos present it.

Sal Khan has done something remarkable in creating such a vast and varied library, and he deserves to be recognized. His commitment to making the site free is a rare and selfless act, and he deserves to be praised. Sal Khan is a good guy with a good mission. What he’s not, though, is a good teacher.

Karim Ani's harshest criticism isn't directed at Khan as much as at journalists covering Khan Academy's popularity, who have "confused journalism with sycophantism," leading to a "suspension of common sense."

That Sal Khan chose to make his videos freely available and has done so much work to at least help students the world over isn't lost on his other critics. It seems clear that some--in spite of Khan's own contention educators are jealous--agree with Mr. Ani. Khan Academy isn't the problem, the hype surrounding it is. Robert Talbert, who teaches with the math instructors who made the MST3K-style video, wrote this about Khan in early July: "I’m not jealous of, or threatened by, Khan Academy in the slightest. But I’m not an uncritical fan, either, and we need to look at carefully at Khan Academy before we adopt it, whole-cloth, as the future of education."

Watch out, you've made the math teachers mad. (Photo: jurvetson)

Video-learning nonprofit Khan Academy is basically the hottest thing in edtech, complete with TED talk and Gates Foundation grant. But you know who thinks it's a load of crap? These two Grand Valley State University math teachers. In fact, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education, they're so annoyed that they've taken to the YouTubes with a Mystery Science Theater 3000-style parody.

The description: "Two teachers sit down to learn about math teaching from a man who is Bill Gates' favorite teacher." It comes complete with a goofy little musical intro. Sample dialogue: "Bill Gates calls him the best teacher he's ever seen," greeted by a sarcastically dramatic gasp.

Somehow we'd forgotten just how cutting math teachers can be.

The Chronicle reached out to Mr. Khan himself, who responded: “There’s always the critique that Khan Academy is not pedagogically sound, that we’re procedural-based, focusing on mechanics without base understanding,” adding, “But I actually think we’re the exact opposite of that.”

It's okay, Mr. Khan, they can't put you in detention any more.