Considering today’s highly competitive educational standards, it’s not hard to see why more and more high-end schools are encouraging students to spend time outside of school with tutors.
In order to keep up with a highly competitive school’s rigorous standards, tutors are often a seemingly necessary part of a young student’s education. However, despite the importance of a good, solid education, it is imperative to consider the matter of hiring a tutor from every side before investing your time and money in one.
Below we have compiled a list of pros and cons of hiring tutors so you can decide for yourself which route is best for your child and your family.
— Pros —
1. Gaps are Identified
When a child has the opportunity to work one-on-one with a teaching professional, there are more opportunities for gaps in their education to be identified and filled. Without several other students to focus on, a private tutor can help your child discover what information they might be missing so they can catch up more easily.
2. Lessons are Broken Down
Once the gaps in a student’s education are identified, a tutor can help the child learn the material they are missing. Often students have developed these gaps due to difficulty in learning a particular bit of subject matter.
In a one-on-one learning environment the child will have the opportunity to have these more difficult bits of information broken down for them in a variety of different ways until they understand it. This is something a teacher in a classroom may not have the time for.
3. Child is Able to Keep Up
Of course, the end goal of hiring a tutor is making sure your child keeps up with his or her peers. This is usually possible with enough one-on-one instruction, and children with private tutors are rarely asked to repeat a grade.
— Cons —
1. Tutors can be Used as a Crutch
Private tutors do much of the dirty work for the student. When a child has someone breaking everything down a second, third, and fourth time, they may become lazy in the classroom and rely only on the tutor to catch them up. They may also become too dependent on the tutor providing them with all the answers and fail to learn proper critical thinking and research skills.
2. Partial Understanding
Because the tutor’s job is to ensure your child doesn’t fail a class, they will often teach to the test. This is something school teachers are also guilty of at times, as they try to keep an entire classroom full of kids on the same page. This often results in children only getting snippets of the material, learning just enough to pass and nothing more.
3. Pushing Your Child Too Quickly Ahead
This point goes hand-in-hand with the one above. Hiring a private tutor is not always the best option when your child is falling behind their classmates. It is important to consider the fact that your young student may not be mentally ready to learn the material being taught.
In these cases, even though a tutor will likely be able to help the child pass, the student will not necessarily understand all the material fully, and this can lead to problems down the line as he or she progresses to the upper levels.
— Conclusion —
By taking these points into consideration, we are confident you can make the best choice for your child. After all, you know your little one better than anyone.
If your child is struggling in class and you aren’t sure that traditional school—with or without a tutor—is the best path for them, consider transferring to the Tenney School.
Here at Tenney School, we pride ourselves on offering each and every student a one-on-one education experience. Because their curriculum is individualized to meet their needs, no student needs to worry about being left behind. Additionally, our teachers are trained to encourage critical thinking and research skills, two things often lost in the traditional classroom environment—especially if your child is using a tutor as a crutch.
If you are interested in learning more about our school, please contact us today. We would love to share what we do with you and your child.