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Today, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, joined a Google+ Hangout to discuss education in the United States. Secretary Duncan and Khan answered questions submitted via Facebook and tweets with the hashtag #DuncanKhan.

In the hangout, Secretary Duncan reinforced the importance of making higher education more affordable and accessible for American families.

“At a time when going to college has never been more important, unfortunately it has never been more expensive,” Duncan said. “And so we have to work together to drive down costs. We have to have much greater transparency and help young people and their families make better choices.”

Secretary Duncan said that we need to innovate to ensure the best education for American students.

“The fact that we’re still teaching with a nineteenth century model makes no sense whatsoever,” Duncan said. “25 or 30 kids sitting in rows all learning the same thing at the same time at the same pace, again, it’s just like Neanderthal... I don't want to know how long you sat there, I want to know do you know the material. Do you know algebra or biology or physics or chemistry or whatever it might be. If you know it, you shouldn't have to sit there.”

That's why organizations like Khan Academy are so exciting. Khan Academy allows anyone, anywhere to take over 4,500 individual classes online, free of charge. Across disciplines and academic grade levels, Khan Academy courses have allowed millions of individuals to learn something new.

Like Khan Academy, Duncan explained that the Department of Education is continuing to work to innovate in education and secure that the next generation can have all the educational opportunities they deserve.

Check out the full video above, and learn more about the President’s plan to secure a better bargain for students.