Dialogues is a Schoolhouse program spearheaded by Sal Khan that brings together students from across the world for 1-on-1 Zoom conversations to exchange views on important global topics like immigration, climate change, and artificial intelligence.

The Dialogues portfolio (sample here) is a certificate you can submit to our university partners as part of your college applications to demonstrate your open mindedness, empathy, and communication skills. The Dialogues portfolio is separate from the general Schoolhouse portfolio.

Students who participate in Dialogues will be eligible to receive a Dialogues portfolio if they complete the following steps:

The following schools will be accepting the Dialogues portfolio from students who will be submitting their college applications in 2025: University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Vanderbilt University, Columbia University, and Colby College.

We encourage you to send your Dialogues portfolio to any school, even if it isn't listed here. We've even had students send Schoolhouse portfolios to employers, scholarship applications, and more!

Schoolhouse will be releasing more information in early 2025 with instructions for how you can request access to your Dialogues portfolio. In the meantime, please rest assured that all Dialogue sessions you participate in (one-off events and club sessions) will count towards your Dialogue portfolio.

There are two ways to participate in Dialogues: One-Off Events and Dialogue Clubs. You can learn more about these different program formats by reviewing the Dialogue website.

You can review and sign up for Dialogue events and clubs here (within the Enrichment subworld, using the Dialogues topic filter).

Students between the ages of 14-21 are eligible to participate in a Dialogue Club.

Only high school students between the ages of 14-18 are eligible to participate in one-off Dialogue events.

These restrictions are in place for the time being to ensure discussions are age appropriate.

Dialogue Clubs are series that meet every two weeks and are led by Schoolhouse tutors, who have formally applied to become Dialogue Club presidents.

Only verified Club Presidents can publish Dialogue Clubs right now. Please do not publish a series using the Dialogues topic.

Dialogues is a new, experimental program so we don’t have an official timeline for when we will next be accepting new applications from students interested in becoming Club Presidents but we will have more information about this later in 2025.

Dialogue Events are single session opportunities for students to try out the Dialogues program by engaging in a 1-on-1 conversation with another student on a Dialogues topic.

Right now, only Schoolhouse staff members can publish Dialogue events. Please do not publish a session or series using the Dialogues topic.

In the future, we may open up opportunities for learners to publish their own Dialogue Events and Clubs. However, for the time being these restrictions are important since the content covered in Dialogues sessions can be more sensitive and controversial.

Dialogues is a unique opportunity at Schoolhouse for students to engage in discussions that not only support academic learning, but also facilitate interpersonal exchange and conversations around contentious topics.

Whereas the standard Schoolhouse policies prohibit in-depth, personal discussions about politics and religion, these conversations are allowed (and encouraged!) in Dialogues.

Dialogues participants have a responsibility to approach these topics thoughtfully and to avoid partisan advocacy or proselytizing. The purpose of Dialogues is to express your views and listen to the opinions of others, not to convince people of your stance.

We recognize that there is a fine line between discussion and debate. Dialogues participants should assume good intent when engaging with others and utilize the Dialogues Resources to guide their approach to discussions.

Confidentiality: Anything discussed in a Dialogue session should remain confidential, unless you are reporting a policy violation or other concern to the Schoolhouse team.

If you believe a Dialogues participant may be violating Schoolhouse policies, please follow these instructions to report the issue.