Talk:Sal Khan

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Merge[edit]

There is no such thing as Nationality: "American". American means all of North to South America, i.e. from Canada to Argentina. His nationality is "United States of America" or USA. And He is a Muslim. He is Bangladesh and Indian descendant. Just like President Obama is Kenya and USA descendant, but with nationality of United States of America. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.201.199.250 (talk) 16:32, 21 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  • I think such merge would be unnecessary. For example, Apple has it's page but so does Steve Jobs and so on. Moreover, the Khan Academy is almost entirely his own production and if anything, it should be merged into this article. Please reconsider.QEDtheory (talk) 23:30, 31 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are notable for more than what they did with Apple and Microsoft whereas Mr. Khan is not notable for anything beyond the Khan Academy. The Khan Academy is not notable because Sal Khan founded it. Sal Khan is notable because he founded the Khan Academy. I think a merge of Sal Khan into Khan Academy would be a logical move. HankyUSA (talk) 21:38, 18 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Come on! The man who provided over a thousand videos and donated years to further education does not deserve his own page? Yet we give porn stars their own pages? HankyUSA, go find something else to do please. 137.30.122.155 (talk) 00:56, 30 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Salman Khan is great. I aspired to be like him before I even knew of him, but that makes no difference. Wikipedia articles aren't medals of honor. Their encyclopedic articles. Sal isn't notable for anything outside of the Khan Academy (unlike Steve Jobs with Apple and Bill Gates with Microsoft). Once he becomes notable for something independent of the Khan Academy, then we should make a article specifically for him. For now I think it would be best to expand his bio section on the Khan Academy article and delete this article; in other words, merge this article into that one. HankyUSA (talk) 05:48, 30 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

HankyUSA, with respect, your idea was reasonable in February, stubborn in May, and by late November, dated and unreasonable. Audrey Hepburn was not the same actor after Roman Holiday came out, and Salman Kahn is not the same media figure he was ten months ago. A cult of personality has begun. Steve Jobs's death, and the lament following, have sent us looking for heroic replacements. Kahn has been elected, whether he likes it or not. Prof. George Leonard, San Francisco State UniversityProfhum (talk) 10:59, 24 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Under American Muslim Category?[edit]

I don't see how Salman is classified as an "American Muslim" at the bottom of the article. He has repeatedly chosen to not reveal his religion. Just because of his name, we cannot assume he is a Muslim.JDONT (talk) 00:00, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed, his own website at khanacademy.org (under frequently asked questions), says "If you believe in trying to make the best of the finite number of years we have on this planet (while not making it any worse for anyone else), think that pride and self-righteousness are the cause of most conflict and negativity, and are humbled by the vastness and mystery of the Universe, then I'm the same religion as you." I am not sure that means that he wants to be classified as a Muslim. Adityan (talk) 19:39, 29 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]


-- Sal Khan is definitely not a Muslim (there is one famous person with the same name who is a Muslim) -- So don't confuse the two! —Preceding unsigned comment added by DoryT (talk • contribs) 10:55, 4 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

To play devil's advocate: just because he doesn't talk about his religion, it doesn't mean he's not religious. He may well be a practising Muslim. Calling him non-Muslim is disingenuous. Weirdly and funnily enough, I think people here have an agenda: they want him to be non-Muslim. Consider other hobbies, please. 5.245.168.133 (talk) 13:44, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

There is one video on evolution and intelligent design where he says that, although he believes in evolution and does not believe in intelligent design, he does not want to take any sides on whether there is or is not a god in his videos and he does not want to alienate anyone. It's at the bottom here. Epa101 (talk) 20:05, 2 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Link not working. According to this video, he tried to reconcile evolution with intelligent design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxOEz9aPZNY
P.S. He occasionally expresses a political view. He was very much against SOPA and PIPA, and he thought that the Bush bail-out of the banks wasn't going to work. In one of his history videos, it was clear that he thought the Vietnam War was wrong. Epa101 (talk) 20:21, 2 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I would like more sources on where it says his parents are Muslim. I have done some research and can't find this information anywhere else. Every other place that references to his Muslim parents redirects to here. 24.237.222.171 (talk) 16:07, 21 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Ethnicity- South Asian[edit]

At the very least Salman Khan is South Asian. Most specifically he is probably Indian. Even though in all of his interviews he mentions the birthplace of his mother and father it is clear he was raised by a single mother and she is of Indian descent:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/technology/khan-academy-blends-its-youtube-approach-with-classrooms.html?hpw&gwh=C42FBFDDE6E89644955C4065CD9C24E4

Please refrain from mentioning Salman Khan as Bangladeshi or Pakistani. If you have insecurity issues and want to proudly state his origins then simply say he is South Asian. It seems like people are adamant about him being Bangladeshi because every time I change his ethnicity to South Asian someone changes it.

If you read the above nytimes article you will find out that he was raised by his mother alone. She is Indian. Fin. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.80.252.201 (talk) 04:29, 5 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

In his own words

Malaiya (talk) 20:52, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not too keen on Bangladeshi-American as it is unnecessarily political. His father is from what is now called Bangladesh, and his mother is from West Bengal, India. Bengali is the ethnicity from both those places. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.243.75.188 (talk) 05:51, 27 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Pakistani American?[edit]

His says on his FAQ page that his mother is Indian and his father Bangladeshi. How does this make him Pakistani? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.149.18.110 (talk) 21:20, 22 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]


The claim of Pakistani ethnicity is false. According to both Khan's website and the Fortune article, Khan's father is of Bangladeshi descent. --Ragib (talk) 21:26, 29 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
his father migrated from East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh i agree but at that time bangladesh was the part of Pakistan or known as East Pakistan, so please note that and thats why he is the part of Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Sch2020 (talk • contribs)
At one time, my father and mother were in East Pakistan, and my grandfather was in British India, and many generations ago, was part of Mughal empire. If you go way back, probably some of my ancestors came from Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago. That does not make myself Indian or Pakistani or African. :D
As for Salman Khan speaking at some conference, oh please!! Let me show who else also spoke in the conference: Tom Campbell, Former Dean Haas School of Business; six-term Congressman; Economist. And would you claim Congressman Campbell to be Pakistani as well, just because he spoke at that conference? LOL. --Ragib (talk) 00:36, 2 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I was about to show this argument :-D -- Niaz(Talk • Contribs) 18:28, 27 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For the benefit of the anon IPs from Pakistan, and the Single-purpose accounts that use them, I'm quoting Khan himself on his ethnic and national origin: (from Khan's own website [1]):


So, I request the anon IPs and the single purpose accounts to stop inserting false information. Khan's membership in organizations does not matter, since he himself states (and also reiterated in the Fortune article) that his father is from Barisal, Bangladesh. --Ragib (talk) 00:20, 2 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

He is clearly a Bangladeshi American. Bangladeshi by birth, American by birth place. --Rossi101 (talk) 19:40, 12 September 2011 (UTC)Rossi101[reply]

Islamic Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan, but today only non-ethnic Bengali's from that region declare themselves as Pakistanis. The Bengladeshis hated Pakistan's rules, and thus choose not to affiliate with Pakistan, it could be said with this guy whom may be a Bengali Patriot. --75.159.2.59 (talk) 01:11, 19 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't understand why he is Bangladeshi American. Why is he not Indian American? Are you guys sexist or misogynistic? Note when asked what his origin/ethnicity is he neither states he is indian american nor bangladeshi. Why not call him South Asian instead? Calling him Bangladeshi implies he is of Bengali descent only and this is entirely false! Please reflect this appropriately since he neither identifies with Islam or Hinduism. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.80.252.201 (talk) 23:30, 27 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If his background was from one place or ethnicity then he could be considered "Blah Blah-American" (as in Italian-American or Irish-American or whatever). If the person has a mixed background then they are simply an American. It is as simple as that. 108.202.113.201 (talk) 00:17, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Date of Birth??[edit]

can anyone update his date of birth..regards--Omer123hussain (talk) 22:25, 28 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned references in Salman Khan (educator)[edit]

I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Salman Khan (educator)'s orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "fortune":

  • From Charlie Rose: Kaplan, David A. (September 28, 2009). "Why business loves Charlie Rose". Fortune. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  • From Khan Academy: "Innovation in Education: Bill Gates' favorite teacher". CNN Money. 24 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 22:25, 4 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Primary topic for "Salman Khan"[edit]

Shouldn't this be the primary topic for the value "Salman Khan"? (According to Wikipedia's unclear guidelines regarding primary topics.) 46.120.188.111 (talk) 21:56, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Personal Life[edit]

This section should either me revised to feature information about Khan or have its title changed to Khan's wife. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.11.193.82 (talk) 01:35, 27 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Joe mon bkk (talk) 18:22, 28 April 2015 (UTC)== Personal Life== Yeah so whats up with all of the bangladeshi, indian, and pakistanis all over wikipedia claiming americans as their own. these are people were either born in the united states or at the very least immigrated there and identify as american. writingou the persons name in the bengali language is absurd and writing that he is an american of bengali origin is absurd. that would be like putting an american of irish origin as the first line on JFKs page. you are basically delegitimizing this persons nationality. he is ot bangladeshi or indian he never was and probably will never be so how about you guys just give up on his page and every other page that you guys change. that stuff is for the personal section where ancestry is mentioned et cetera.[reply]

Internet Stars[edit]

I find it interesting how individuals, whether they like it or not, and what they do get blown out of proportion, and they become stars. Now hes a father of open learning/ education.. Around the same time some american colleges were already starting to post their class videos, and google already lots of lectures if I'm not mistaken. Yes he did personal teaching, but the platform he was using was so poor. I dont understand how anyone understood what he was writing. Most of the audience was heavy math and engineering, and most of the audience was from India.

dont mean to drag anyone down but everyone and anything internet related these days need to be stars of some type.

"The popularity of his educational videos on the video-sharing website and the testimonials of students prompted Khan to quit his job as a financial analyst in late 2009. After consulting his wife, telling her it was the "highest social return that one could ever get,"[16]he moved his focus to developing his YouTube channel, Khan Academy, full-time with the aid of close friend Josh Gefner.[11] Khan consequently received sponsorship from Ann Doerr, the wife of John Doerr.[17]"Starbwoy (talk) 16:48, 3 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Why is Mohammed Younus listed in the "see also" ????[edit]

Dr. Universe (talk) 01:36, 23 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Teacher?[edit]

I’m curious about the references to Mr. K as a “teacher” and an “educator.” The article does not refer to any degree or credential he has earned in those fields or, indeed, any experience in the practice of communicative, two-way teaching. On what basis is the title awarded? Grahamtalk/mail/e 19:28, 7 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

How can his father be from Bangladesh?[edit]

Bangladesh came into existent in 1971. Sal khan was born in 1976, it is absurd to say Sal’s father was born in Bangladesh. The Government of India Act, 1935, included now Bangladesh as a part of India, so it is better to write “now Bangladesh” and link it to Government of India Act 1935, instead of just writing “Bangladesh”. 117.233.102.61 (talk) 04:24, 11 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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