????在美國，學(xué)生貸款債務(wù)已接近一萬億美元之巨的歷史記錄。畢業(yè)即失業(yè)的法學(xué)院畢業(yè)生們正在以虛假宣傳罪名起訴他們的母校。毋庸置疑，高等教育的高昂成本（更別提投資回報了）已經(jīng)成為很多人心頭的痛。

????大選在即，奧巴馬政府也不敢對這些怨言充耳不聞。奧巴馬總統(tǒng)在國情咨文中談到了這個話題，政府隨后采取了相應(yīng)舉措來遏制大學(xué)學(xué)費的上漲。具體的做法是將學(xué)校獲得聯(lián)邦援助的可能性與學(xué)生能否負擔(dān)得起該校的學(xué)費相掛鉤。本月早些時候，副總統(tǒng)喬?拜登、教育部長（Secretary of Education）阿恩?鄧肯和參議員約翰?克里分別前往一些大學(xué)校宣傳這一舉措。很多人在對難以承受的大學(xué)學(xué)費表示不滿的同時，開始懷念過去那些世界一流的公立院校的做法，這些公立院校對很多學(xué)生免收學(xué)費，比如紐約城市大學(xué)（The City University of New York）和加利福尼亞大學(xué)（The University of California）。

????薩爾?可汗的可汗學(xué)院（Khan Academy）是一家免費的、非盈利性教育網(wǎng)站，擁有超過2,800個視頻課程，并得到了來自谷歌（Google）和蓋茨基金（Gates Foundation）的資金支持。至少在精神層面上來看，它繼承了免費教育這一傳統(tǒng)。數(shù)月前，薩爾?可汗準(zhǔn)備在達拉斯舉辦的州立大學(xué)未來論壇（the Future of State Universities Conference）上發(fā)表講話之前，《財富》雜志（Fortune）借機對他進行了專訪。整理后的對話記錄如下。

????財富：您網(wǎng)站上的計數(shù)器顯示，可汗學(xué)院為用戶提供課程的次數(shù)不久將達到1.2億次。這些用戶有哪些地方最讓您感到驚訝？

????薩爾?可汗：讓我驚訝的是，很多人的學(xué)習(xí)積極性非常高。一般來說，人們可能不會覺得這些人會是積極好學(xué)的學(xué)生。因為他們都是些曾經(jīng)被中學(xué)、大學(xué)開除的學(xué)生。他們曾經(jīng)很討厭學(xué)習(xí)。

????上周我與來自幾家企業(yè)的首席學(xué)習(xí)官座談。一位女士走過來對我說：“我丈夫過去非常痛恨學(xué)校。他有閱讀障礙。他以前是一位消防員。但自從開始接觸視頻課程，他就喜歡上了學(xué)習(xí)，尤其是數(shù)學(xué)和物理。后來他重新進入了大學(xué)，并獲得了數(shù)學(xué)和物理學(xué)的學(xué)位，還獲得了物理學(xué)碩士學(xué)位，現(xiàn)在他是一名物理教師?！?/p>

????這就是活生生的現(xiàn)實。生活中有很多這樣的人，他們在傳統(tǒng)教育模式下會倍感挫敗和疏。，因為傳統(tǒng)教育模式總是過早地對人的學(xué)習(xí)能力下結(jié)論，給人貼上標(biāo)簽，不允許學(xué)生按照自己的進度展開學(xué)習(xí)。

您認為可汗學(xué)院提供的課程服務(wù)有何局限性？

????主要的局限在于，我們不能為學(xué)習(xí)者授予正式的學(xué)位證書。我們收到了很多人的來信，說他們不會再去課堂上課。他們?nèi)⒓訉W(xué)?？荚囈仓皇菫榱四玫綄W(xué)位證書。我們很清楚這種情況。因為我們自己在大學(xué)里也是這樣。

????我們所能做的說到底只是教與學(xué)。我們可以給予學(xué)生獎勵和徽章，但這些只能讓他們感到光榮，卻不能放到簡歷中去。

說到簡歷和證書，現(xiàn)在擁有學(xué)位的人越來越多了，但有種看法認為，這些東西已經(jīng)越來越無法代表人們在工作崗位上的表現(xiàn)。您是怎么看的？

????對于現(xiàn)有的教育體系，確實存在這種情況。不論是我們，還是谷歌（Google）或Facebook，都不得不實行嚴(yán)格的招聘流程。因為我們并不清楚計算機科學(xué)課程拿到4.0的成績到底能夠說明什么問題。我覺得重點不在于培養(yǎng)多少具有電子工程或計算機科學(xué)專業(yè)背景的人，而在于如何培養(yǎng)學(xué)生，確保他們在各自的專業(yè)領(lǐng)域內(nèi)能夠擁有出色的表現(xiàn)。

????Student debt is nearing a record $1 trillion in the U.S. Jobless law school grads are suing their alma maters for false advertising. Needless to say, the cost of higher education -- not to mention the return on the investment -- has become a sore spot for many.

????With an election on the horizon, the Obama Administration has not been deaf to the grumbling. The president addressed the topic in his State of the Union, and his administration has since launched a campaign to stem the rise in college tuition by tying a school's federal aid prospects to its affordability. Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Senator John Kerry were dispatched to university campuses earlier this week to tout the plan. In all the tut-tut over college affordability, there been some nostalgia for the time when some world-class, public universities -- The City University of New York and The University of California, for example -- didn't charge any tuition for many of its students.

????Salman Khan's Khan Academy -- a free, nonprofit education site with more than 2,800 video lessons and financial backing from the likes of Google (GOOG) and the Gates Foundation -- has picked up this mantle, at least in spirit. Fortune caught up with Khan a few months ago while he was just about to speak at the Future of State Universities Conference in Dallas. Here is an edited transcript of the conversation.

????Fortune: Judging from the counter on your site, it looks like Khan Academy is not too far away from delivering its 120-millionth lesson. What has surprised you the most about all those users?

????Sal Khan: I've been surprised at how motivated a lot of people are that you wouldn't traditionally think would be that kind of a motivated student. They were the kid who failed out of college, failed out of high school, hated academics.

????I gave a talk last week to a bunch of chief learning officers from companies and one woman came by and said, "My husband hated school. He's dyslexic. He was a fireman and he just started watching the videos and he got really into it. He got really into math, really into physics. Went back to college, got a math degree and a physics degree, a master's in physics, and is now teaching physics."

????And so, it's this reality that there are people like that out there that have completely gotten frustrated and disengaged with the traditional model that tends to judge you and label you in very early stages and really doesn't let you learn at your own pace.

What would you say are the limitations of what you are offering at Khan Academy?

????The main limitation is we're not granting people formal credentials. We get a lot of letters from people, they're not going to class anymore. And they're just showing up to take an exam to get a credential. And we all know that happens. We did a little bit of that ourselves in college.

????At the end of the day, the most that we can do is teach and learn. We can give someone rewards and badges to make them feel good, but they can't put that on their resumes just yet.

Speaking of resumes and credentials, it seems like more people are getting degrees, but they say less and less about how well someone will perform on the job. What's your take?

????It's a bit of a statement on the existing system that us or Google or Facebook have to have such a rigorous interview process because we really don't know what a 4.0 in computer science means any more. I think the conversation has to go beyond getting more people to major in electrical engineering or computer science. The conversation is how do we equip people so that they can actually perform well in that type of environment?