Sal on LinkedIn: “Reforming the Beast”

Context before you read further:

I teach at a 2-year-old Charter School in the ‘Archer Heights’ neighborhood in Chicago. 63 of  my 64 students are Mexican and 1 is African American. 98% of them qualify for free or reduced lunch. The majority of my students do not have stable access to either a computer or internet at home (via a student survey).

As of January 2011 in Mathematics (via NWEA scores): 

61% of my students are behind grade level.

31% of my students are more than one grade level behind.

13% of my students are more than two grade levels behind.

Now, onto the post:

I watched Sal’s interview on the LinkedIn: Speaker Series while on the Megabus traveling from Chicago to St. Louis [ thank you MyWi 4.0 ;) ]. I love the disruptive thinking that KA has inspired Re: higher education. However, from the questions and comments about primary education, I was surprised at how out of touch the audience, and at times, Sal, seemed with classrooms like mine. 

[Video has been cued to 38:25]

I cringed when Sal was talking about ‘reforming the beast’ then said that the Los Altos pilot proves that Khan Academy can ‘help the beast’. Yikes! The beast you’re referring to doesn’t exist at Los Altos! It exists in schools you saw in 'Waiting for Superman' and mine! The Los Altos pilot absolutely proves other points, but not this one. I believe my current "pilot" will prove the point of ‘helping the beast’. What do you think?