TUTORS CHOOSING STUDENTS TO TEACH
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I wonder whether parents and tutors have this experience.
One of my friends asked me to tutor her daughter cos her tutor, who was recommended by a friend, stopped teaching after 2 sessions. The tutor kept complaining that the child is very poor academically and will affect her reputation as a tutor cos all her other students are \"A\" students. :mad: She stopped the tuition cos she didn't want any blemish on her records.
My friend is not well educated and became very concerned and upset about the tutor's assessment of her daughter. As such, she approached me to tutor her girl and warned me that her child needs lots of efforts on my part to help her. However, after teaching the girl, I realised that she is not as \"weak\" as I thought. She scored 70+ for Maths which to me is not that bad for P2. I have had much more weaker students than her. Moreover, she has a very positive attitude and asks me for more homework cos she loves Maths. I'm very impressed with her cos my other students always complain that I give a lot of homework (which is true
).
I am aware that some tutors pick and choose their students. IMHO, if the students are high achievers, they don't really need tuition and their results are not reflective of the tutors' ability. Some parents insist that their high ability children have tuition to maintain their position in school. It's sad that parents flock to these tutors cos all their students score \"A\". My purpose in posting this is to let parents know that there are tutors who are not really as capable as they claim to be (i.e. highly sought after cos their students' results). If this particular tutor is really capable, she should be able to help my friend's daughter to score \"A\" instead of giving up on her. :slapshead: :slapshead:
My proudest achievement is when my students improve academically. I have helped students turn their \"fail\" to \"pass\", \"pass\" to \"A\" and \"A\" to \"excellence\". I believe this should be the ambition of any tutor and what tutoring is all about - helping the students to do well academically regardless of their abilities. :nunchuk: -
Tutors have been choosing the students they teach since my time. One of the most traumatic experiences of my life was when the Math tutor that my cousin recommended asked to evaluate me. I must have come up wanting in some way… too tubby maybe… looked dumb… looked slow… ugly? In any case, he rejected me.
For a long time I believed there was something wrong with me. Now I know that he was just being arrogant and insensitive. If any tutor dared to reject my kids, I would really give him/her an earful today. It’s telling the child that he/she is so hopeless he/she is not worth teaching. -
I don’t think teachers should be choosing students.
the child obviously needs help in a certain area, thats why they need the teacher.
it should be about helping the child, not about boosting the teacher’s ego -
Maybe the tutor felt that he or she is not able to get through to the child even after 2 sessions, and thus is unable to help the child. To continue would not be fair to the child and a waste of money for the parent.
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tankee:
Maybe the tutor felt that he or she is not able to get through to the child even after 2 sessions, and thus is unable to help the child. To continue would not be fair to the child and a waste of money for the parent.
The man who rejected me didn't even try to teach me. He took spent one afternoon with me at the Science Centre and decided that I was not worth it. I am scarred for life, I tell you. -
As a tutor, I feel that we should not reject students just because they wish to maintain a good record of distinction students.
However, a tutor should reject students who are disrespectful, truant or if the tutor feels unable to help the child improve academically.
Parents can help reduce this competitive streak by asking for grade improvement rather than end grade.
Oh yeah, I dont think 70+ for mathematics at P2 level is good. At P1-P3 level, attaining 85 and above shouldnt be too big a problem. -
I have never encountered this before.
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There will always be black sheep in any industry. Don’t some tuition centres also choose students to teach?
My dh while doing part time tutoring in his tertiary days, had to tutor a P1 student who has very little grasp of English as his parents could not speak English. After a few sessions, he said that boy looked forward to every session and could see the effort he put in to try to improve. This is the type of satisfaction some tutors look for. But in the case of full time tutors, some of them may see it as jeopardizing their rice bowl and not worth the time.
meinteel,
there are students scoring <10 marks for P3 Math in my boy’s neighbourhood school for this yrs’ SA1 (and past 2 yrs). i believe those scoring in band 1 (this year’s SA1) are only about slightly more than 1 class of students (maybe 60+/-; that is less than 1/3 the cohort). for students with no additional support, no support in study habits, poor foundation, getting 70 is a good start. -
Chenonceau:
:scared: you mean you needed to go for tuition? :scared:tankee:
Maybe the tutor felt that he or she is not able to get through to the child even after 2 sessions, and thus is unable to help the child. To continue would not be fair to the child and a waste of money for the parent.
The man who rejected me didn't even try to teach me. He took spent one afternoon with me at the Science Centre and decided that I was not worth it. I am scarred for life, I tell you.
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jedamum:
Maybe true, but I always worry for students who can't attain Band 1 especially for P1 & P2. At P3 level, the minimum should always be Band 2. To me, anything lower than band 2 and alarm bells should be ringing.There will always be black sheep in any industry. Don't some tuition centres also choose students to teach?
My dh while doing part time tutoring in his tertiary days, had to tutor a P1 student who has very little grasp of English as his parents could not speak English. After a few sessions, he said that boy looked forward to every session and could see the effort he put in to try to improve. This is the type of satisfaction some tutors look for. But in the case of full time tutors, some of them may see it as jeopardizing their rice bowl and not worth the time.
meinteel,
there are students scoring <10 marks for P3 Math in my boy's neighbourhood school for this yrs' SA1 (and past 2 yrs). i believe those scoring in band 1 (this year's SA1) are only about slightly more than 1 class of students (maybe 60+/-; that is less than 1/3 the cohort). for students with no additional support, no support in study habits, poor foundation, getting 70 is a good start.
Im not saying getting 70 is bad, but 70 should be considered okay at P2. Not something to be proud of. I wonder how parents feel when their children score single digits in P3 Maths.
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