Industry Myths

There are tons of myths in every field so I decided today that I would discuss a few in my industry.

• Myth 4: Tutors give you answers. 
• The refusal of tutors to respond to student demands for the “right answer” can lead to some learners disengaging with tutors and complaining that tutor support is poor. However, as a learner, it’s important to recognize that asking a tutor for the correct one, is an unrealistic expectation and, in some instances, could be considered cheating.
• Your tutor can act as an excellent sounding board when identifying key topics and developing arguments for your assignments, helping you as you work towards developing your own answer.
• Myth 3: Teachers are not working hard enough and if they did the students would not need tutors. This to is very far from the truth. Teachers teach from a curriculum and much of their time is spent dealing with behavioral issues. Imagine being in a classroom with 30 students and here is the demographics of your class: 
• 5 of your students are ESL students meaning English is their 2nd language and only 1 of the 5 speaks any English (yes this is what happens in the classroom).
• 3 of your students are responsible for not only getting themselves up and ready for school but also their siblings. They may or may not come to school in clean clothing, they may not have eaten, and you may be the only adult that they come in contact with all day.
• 6 of your students tested below basic the year prior and the expectation is for you to bring them along with the rest of your class up to proficient.
• 3 of your students have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and are medication or other homeopathic treatment but there are 5 more who you know are ADHD or ADD yet you have to wait until a parent initiates a meeting and just deal with their inabilities to focus or sit still until that time.
• The remainder of your students are A/B students who strive for their best yet you as a teacher must deal with all of the other issues in the classroom before you can even get to teaching.
• So when someone says the teacher is not working hard enough I beg to differ teachers come to the classroom and give their all to their students and when is all said and done after all of the extra time and money spent they are probably making less than minimum wage with minimal resources.
• Myth 2: Tutoring is only for students who are failing. 
• Many parents seek private tutoring to ensure their child attains grade level competency.
• Increasingly, parents enroll their children in private tutoring to help them get ahead of their class and be better prepared for the next school year.
• Many college bound students enroll in private tutoring to help them attain higher ACT and SAT scores
• Myth 1: A good tutor is too expensive to afford. This is far from the truth and I typically explain it to parents in this manner. If you go to Starbucks daily or feed a family of four at McDonald's once or twice a week you can afford tutoring. All it takes is giving up something that you may not always want to give up but would not take anything away from your livelihood or well-being to do so. I mean think about it if you stopped drinking Starbucks coffee and made coffee at home you could save at least $120 a month (that's with buying 2 containers of coffee a month) and at Nashville Learning Center that gets you at least 4 tutoring sessions.

Would you hire a tutor to help your child or if you needed one yourself? If the answer is No, why not? Post your questions or comments below.