A lot of parents these days are sending, or at least considering sending, their children to tuitions.
We’re talking about individuals or centres outside of school, where children can clarify doubts, revise concepts they have already studied in school, or prepare for topics they will be doing in the upcoming educational year. With that in mind, let’s go to the obvious question.
How do tuitions help kids?
Tuition centres or individual tutors provide additional help to students who are in need of extra academic assistance. . They are typically in an informal setting, at the student’s or the tutor’s home. The timings of tuitions are also typically flexible, with parents & tutors mutually agreeing upon this. These private tuitions or coaches help you with your home assignments as well as upcoming school quizzes, scholarship exams, other competitive exams and more. Basically, they’re incredibly helpful for your children if they struggle with dealing with the academic stress and workload.
Smaller Study Groups – Tuition centers have much smaller study groups ranging between two to twelve for every teacher. This is a small number compared to student-teacher ratio in the classroom which can be up to thirty students to one teacher. Smaller group helps the teacher focus on every child and the teaching can very well become one-on-one basis.
Regular Revision – Another reason why tuition classes are gaining popularity is because of the extra review they provide children. There is only so much a student can learn during limited fifty-minute periods in school. In addition to that, children are learning more than eight different subjects on a daily basis, so this can lead to confusion and limited understanding. However, in a tuition class teachers pick subjects that children need more support on and regularly revisit the concepts to help them understand better.
Devoid of Distraction – Usually children can be easily distracted with peers in school and gadgets at home. This reduces focus and hampers learning. A tuition class is a professional set-up where such distractions are limited and hence the child can focus better on the topic at hand.
Improves student comfort levels – At times students are shy about asking their doubts in the class. They fear being ridiculed and risk not understanding the concepts. Some students might not find enough time to build a bond with the school teachers due to the large number of students per class. In a tuition class, small set-up, better co-ordination between teachers and parents help students open up. Along with regular revision, they find easy access helpful in clearing their doubts sooner.
Having better terms with their tutors can help children gain confidence and motivation. Radha Madan, mother of a 15 year old says “My son’s motivation to learn & interest in maths increased manifold, because he felt he would let down his tuition teacher if he didn’t perform well”
And the cons…
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons why you should send your child to tuition centers. It helps them academically and can also help shier children make friends outside of school. However, whether or not you want to send your child to a tuition center depends on you- the parent. After all, opponents to the tuition culture, will argue that it adds to the existing stress that children face daily. . It is not uncommon for tuition teachers to give children extra homework in an attempt to improve their understanding of some concepts. Add that extra bit of coursework on top of the pile of homework and revision given to children at school, and you’re just causing unnecessary pressure and stress on your children. Adarsh Sharma, father of a 13-year old says “I believe tuitions place additional academic burden on kids, taking away from their play time, or social activities, which are as crucial for a child’s overall development”
Others also argue that tuition centers make children more dependent on teachers, making them completely unprepared for the real world. In university, especially if your child chooses to pursue a more specialized degree, your child will not have the extra help they got in their school years. So instead of learning to manage the workload and developing their own study strategy, some children might find themselves looking for additional help to cope with coursework.
Some parents believe that tuitions may actually interfere with what children are taught in school, and how, kids may not be able to assimilate differences in teaching methods – possibly a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.
The answer lies with you, the parent. Of course, some children need extra help which parents might not be able to give them. This can be because of a number of reasons: maybe both parents work full-time, maybe they don’t have enough education of their own to help high school kids with more advanced courses. These children obviously should be sent to tuition centers to be able to compete with their classmates but again, it is up to you and your child to discuss and decide if tuition is the right way to go ahead.
Hey Pavani. Good article about Tuitions. The pros and cons have been explained well. It is really helpful to make a decision. Thank You.