Blog 2: "The Broken Model" by Sal Khan

 “The Broken Model” by Sal Khan

Quotes from Khans Chapters

In “The Broken Model,” a chapter from Sal Khan’s book, Khan critically examines the foundations of the modern education system and argues that it no longer serves the needs of today’s learners. He begins by questioning familiar school structures such as bells, rigid subject divisions, and standardized testing, asking where these practices originated and what they truly measure. Khan traces many of these features back to the Prussian model of education, which was adopted in the United States in the early nineteenth century and has remained largely unchanged. Although curriculum and instructional methods have evolved, the underlying structure of schooling has not kept pace with the demands of our changing world and it is time for change.

A significant contributor to this structure was the Committee of Ten, who wanted to define  what primary and secondary schooling looked like. Drawing inspiration from the Prussian model, “...the committee felt that every student should get a fair chance to see if he had an interest in and capacity for intellectual work” (79). This belief may be the only aspect of the Prussian model that remains true today. However, Khan argues that the rigid system created to uphold this ideal now undermines it. The standardized nature of schooling leaves little room for students to explore their strengths, creativity, or talents beyond what the curriculum allows. As a result, many students are never given the opportunity to fully demonstrate their capabilities.

Khan further critiques the heavy reliance on standardized testing. While he acknowledges that assessments can be useful, he emphasizes that they fail to capture the full understanding of a child’s intelligence. He warns, “The danger of using assessments as reasons to filter out students…is that we may overlook or discourage those whose talents are of a different order—whose intelligence tends more to the oblique and the intuitive” (100). Students who do not perform well on tests may excel in other areas, yet these strengths would go unnoticed. Test scores increasingly influence students’ self-efficacy. When students consistently perform poorly, they may hold on to that failure, lose resilience, and disengage from learning altogether.

Khan’s central argument is summarized when he states that “our educational model, with its deeply flawed system of testing and grading, effectively deprives many students of the chance to reach their full potential. They are labeled early and treated accordingly” (97). While the current system works for now, Khan makes clear that reform is necessary. Education must move toward a model that recognizes individual strengths, fosters creativity, and allows students to understand and develop their own potential—not only for academic success, but for their future lives beyond school.

Since we are aware that the system is broken, what can we do to fix it? What would we change about it?