I made a stupid decision to sell cannabis

and ended up in prison.

Fortunately, my mother sent me Khan Academy transcripts

to start improving my education.

And while I was doing that, other inmates noticed

and would come up to me and ask if I could help them.

When I'd ask them, "Why don't you try to get

"in the GED classes?"

Some of the waiting lists was too long.

Others, I realize, what it is is,

it's hard to admit you don't know something,

and it's embarrassing when you're a full-grown man

to say that you don't know

that there's three different ways to spell the word there.

So I'd help them.

And when I got out, I used Khan Academy's SAT program

to prepare myself,

and I ended up getting a 1440 on the SATs.

And after that, I applied and was accepted

into Stanford University.

I'm making this video today

'cause I wanna tell you that when you support Khan Academy,

you're not only supporting people like me

and helping me get to places like Stanford.

You're supporting a mission that strips away

the embarrassment factor of having to admit

you don't know something

because you wanna learn something.

The best teacher can only help the student

if they'll walk into the classroom,

and what Khan Academy does

is they put a classroom in everybody's home

on their time, on their schedule

without any embarrassment.

So I hope you will continue to support

Khan Academy's mission,

and I hope to continue to support the mission

of increasing a world-class education

for everybody everywhere.