Organizations
How companies, institutions, and movements embody the sixteen values.
MIT
The mind and the hand
MIT was founded on the premise that scientific knowledge and practical application are inseparable, and that the university’s obligation is to develop both simultaneously. The mens et manus (mind and hand) motto expresses a growth-orientation that treats the development of technical capability as the primary educational mission rather than the transmission of existing knowledge. The undergraduate research culture, the lab-based pedagogy, and the institutionalized connection between academic research and commercial application are all expressions of the belief that learning is most valuable when it produces new things.
MIT
The mind and the hand
MIT was founded on the premise that scientific knowledge and practical application are inseparable, and that the university’s obligation is to develop both simultaneously. The mens et manus (mind and hand) motto expresses a growth-orientation that treats the development of technical capability as the primary educational mission rather than the transmission of existing knowledge. The undergraduate research culture, the lab-based pedagogy, and the institutionalized connection between academic research and commercial application are all expressions of the belief that learning is most valuable when it produces new things.
A research output that has generated foundational contributions to computing, biology, physics, economics, and engineering. An alumni network that has founded companies accounting for trillions of dollars in economic output. A culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that produces breakthroughs impossible within the boundaries of a single discipline.
A technology-transfer culture that has at times prioritized commercial application over the basic research whose value is realized on timescales that venture capital cannot accommodate. The institutional capture by defense funding that shapes research priorities in ways that are not always visible to the researchers being funded. The prestige economy that makes MIT degrees valuable independent of what was learned, creating pressure toward credential acquisition rather than genuine technical development.
The 1945 publication of Vannevar Bush’s ‘Science: The Endless Frontier,’ which established the framework for government funding of basic research that has structured American science policy for 80 years, written by an MIT alumnus who had run the wartime research effort that produced radar and preceded the Manhattan Project.
Khan Academy
A free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere
Khan Academy began as Sal Khan tutoring his cousins in mathematics over the phone, posting the explanatory videos to YouTube when he ran out of time for live sessions, and discovering that millions of other students found them useful. The organization grew from this accident into the most significant free educational resource in the world, with 120 million registered learners and content covering mathematics, science, and history in multiple languages. The growth-orientation is literal: Khan Academy exists to expand the educational capacity of the learner through structured, self-paced, mastery-based progression.
Khan Academy
A free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere
Khan Academy began as Sal Khan tutoring his cousins in mathematics over the phone, posting the explanatory videos to YouTube when he ran out of time for live sessions, and discovering that millions of other students found them useful. The organization grew from this accident into the most significant free educational resource in the world, with 120 million registered learners and content covering mathematics, science, and history in multiple languages. The growth-orientation is literal: Khan Academy exists to expand the educational capacity of the learner through structured, self-paced, mastery-based progression.
Genuinely effective mathematics and science instruction for students lacking access to good teachers or who learn at a pace that classroom instruction cannot accommodate. Free SAT preparation measurably improving access to higher education for students without resources for commercial test prep. A platform used by classroom teachers as a supplement reaching students the class format is not serving.
The limitations of self-directed learning platforms for students who lack the motivation structures, technological access, and adult support that make self-paced learning possible. The difficulty of serving the students who need the most help through a platform that requires a baseline of self-directedness to use effectively. The risk that a free, high-quality platform reduces political pressure for adequate public school funding by making deficiency seem individually solvable.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's $1.5 million grant in 2010, converting a YouTube channel into a non-profit organization and establishing the model of philanthropy-funded free educational infrastructure.