14 Aug Why Tuition is Essential for our Children

As a parent of one son who is in his Primary School years, it is never easy having to fork out time to coach my son despite being an ex MOE school teacher myself. With my own teaching business to run and my wife who is working as a civil servant, we struggle with making time to supervise and coach our son in his studies. How much more challenging it would be for parents who have more than one children to look after and imagine how tired they would be after a hard day’s work, not forgetting that they still have to attend to teach their kids. The only solution I can think of is to outsource our child’s learning to another equally or more qualified tutor without both parents burning out with fatigue.

Even though some parents are not working and thus able to coach their children at home, still, they may not be familiar with the school syllabus and this would deter them from teaching their child effectively. This is made worse when their children are weak in their subjects and struggle to catch up with their peers. This is why tuition may be essential for such students who need that extra help to catch up. As a teacher and tutor myself, I have met many concerned parents who are unable to help their children and are urgently looking for qualified tutors who can help to plug the gap. These parents also do not want to strain their relationship with their kids by always having to constantly breathe down their necks. This is why tutors can come in to bridge the gap between both parents and their children.

Another common reason which I find lacking is that schools may not fully teach their students in learning and applying the full range of skills in solving their math problems. In school, students learn the basics and concepts of each topic and teachers do try to expose them to more new things but they are limited by time. They have a syllabus to follow and as a result, are unable to dwell too much on other aspects which we call the ‘Enrichment Part’. This is where tutors come in to expose the students to more types of skills and knowledge. Tutors supplement what the school teachers are unable to do and provide the needed guidance in maximising the students’ potential. Also, despite shrinking the class size from 40 to 30, some students may still struggle to interact with the teacher especially if they are shy. In such a scenario, they won’t benefit from what the teacher is teaching as they would either keep their questions to themselves or be distracted when they cannot engage with what the teacher is doing. In a group or private tuition setting, the class size is kept small to allow the students to be more liberated and relaxed to converse with the teacher.

In a nutshell, can we do away with providing tuition for our children? I am afraid the answer is NO. As long as parents are busy working and unable to effectively coach their kids, we will always need to engage external help to close the gap. Even more so when the school syllabus is becoming more demanding and our kids are clearly struggling to keep pace with what is being taught in schools. Having tuition will always be part of what parents have in mind to give the best to their children!

Stay tuned to the next blog on whether students need Enrichment Classes or just Normal Tuition!