Posted on 09/02/2006 4:08:54 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Parents shell out big bucks for tutors
By Lisa Kassenaar
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Published September 2, 2006
When Casey Ravitz graduated in June from Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, she had spent 14 years in three private schools in New York City. For eight of those years, she had kept weekly appointments with $100-an-hour Manhattan tutors.
"I had a lot of friends who were being tutored, too," says Miss Ravitz, 18, an investment banker's daughter who moved to Chicago last month to attend DePaul University. "My last tutor wouldn't let me get away with anything. She was the most helpful person I've ever met."
In New York, where tuition at some private schools will top $30,000 this fall, parents are spending thousands of dollars more on one-on-one instruction. Some teens need extra coaching -- which can cost more than $500 an hour -- to get through chemistry or Franz Kafka.
Others seek help to nab the A's required for a seat at Harvard or Princeton universities, says Lisa Jacobson, 47, who started Inspirica Ltd. in 1983 in Manhattan and now employs more than 100 tutors.
About 75 percent of private high school graduates in New York have had some tutoring, says Sandy Bass, editor of Private School Insider, a New York newsletter published five times a year. Rising demand for homework help, which is distinct from prepping for the SAT college entrance exam, has led the city's tutoring companies to add teachers and services.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Actually, it does not matter if school is public or private. If educational board has the power to force watered down curriculum, it will breed perverted tutoring practice. That is what I tried to say.
Well, you could say that he actually wrote down his daydreams while staying in an asylum for tuberculosis.
Whatever the actual value of Kafka is, it is not for high school students in my opinion.
No tenure. More money. More discipline.
Let parents assume their rightful roles in the community by getting meaninfully involved in their local school boards.
These kids aren't going to public schools. This is all private school stuff. Hyper-competition.
The only person of note who is actively involved in local school boards is that woman from Sex and the City
"Actually, it does not matter if school is public or private. If educational board has the power to force watered down curriculum, it will breed perverted tutoring practice."
OK. Now you've got me curious. What (presumably government school) educational board is going to be able to force a watered down curricula on people who do not put their children in the government schools?
If the ultimate goal is to get your children into a good university at a young age, then homeschooling generally has a real advantage. The only way I can see tutoring being a problem is if tutors are used only to assist children in doing better on standardized tests. While I can see that being a problem in the government schools where constant testing seems to have become the obsession, how does it matter with homeschooled kids or those attending private schools?
I was mainly addressing about students going to schools and also getting tutors, not homeschooling kids.
My focus is more on perverted tutoring, not government school vs homeschooling. I hope that clears up what I was trying to say.
"Let parents assume their rightful roles in the community by getting meaninfully involved in their local school boards."
To what end? I would respectfully disagree with the premise that the government schools represnt the *best* or even a particularly good way to educate our citizens.
While I acknowledge that government schools are a necessary educator of last resort, I frankly don't understand the idea that by getting more involved in the administration of the government schools that this will somehow translate into a better education for children. I would argue that parents would better spend their limited time simply going over lessons with their kids at the kitchen table.
You're right. No matter how good a school is or how good the parents are at teaching, sometimes a child needs some specialized attention in an area the parents aren't experts in. There's nothing wrong with using a tutor if there's something about the way you teach that isn't getting through to the child.
I plan to use a math tutor for my son. I know I can't explain some of these things to him myself.
Trust me, you're better off not knowing.
An aside, no one needs $500 tutoring to 'get through' Kafka - a $.25 bullet will do the trick.
Psssst...it already has. Also referred to as "homeschooling."
It is not issue of parenting. Very few parents are able to help their children with "chemistry or Franz Kafka". Hiring a good tutor is a good idea.
I read a big collection of Kafka all at one go and after a while I found it pretty hilarious.
But you might need to see it from the NY perspective: children are basically assigned to nannies all day long. They are literally parents-on-contract. And some of them don't look as if they've much experience or commitment, but that's just a hunch.
TO WHAT END?
Because it's their freaking civic and parental duty, that's what "end."
Some Americans need to be traded in for immigrants who pay attention.
Some Americans need to be traded in for immigrants who pay attention.
This is so far beyond the immigrant thing it isn't funny. These are folks who can afford $30k for private schools. They're highly educated and travel widely. Many of them have a very good grasp on the way the world works.
They don't just see U.S. competition. They know their kids will be competing for jobs with some kid in China or India.
what about all the people who aren't "of note?"
I'm not sure what your point about that is. But anyway, yes, it's hard to see how a remark about the school board applies to clients of "Sidwell Friends Academy," and the like.
But I do not apologize for the remark itself, even if it doesn't apply to the story.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.