Why Tutoring Hurts More Than it Helps
Students across the globe spend thousands of dollars per year on tutoring— the rise in the tutoring industry over the last 20 years can be attributed to two main reasons: failing education and a decrease in student autonomy. This uncomfortable trend is one that usually leaves students no better off than they started. Let’s get into the reasons why.
Creates a Crutch Dynamic
With students losing autonomy, the last thing we need is more hand-holding. We’ve raised a generation of students who grew up with automated support. They have never experienced finding a book in the library using the Dewey Decimal system or figured out the best route to a location using a map. Everything is done for them. They are told what to do, they are told (implicitly) not to think, and we’ve arrived at a point that they are being told, often, how to feel. Tutoring inherently creates a crutch dynamic, and much like our smartphones and automated lives, they become imbedded to the point we don’t feel comfortable without them.
Doesn’t Address the Why
When a student is struggling, almost always does it have to do more with anything but the curriculum. In my experience, usually about 10% of the time, does a student’s struggles actually come down to a difficulty they have with the content. 90% of the time it is their approach to the course, their confidence and/or self-belief, and their overall study skills (more on this in the next section). Tutoring will address the what (the idea, concept, topic) and some tutors will be great at teaching it and some will be poor. The what is important, of course! But the why, is more important.
Doesn’t Teach How to Study
I find that the typical high school student has about zero study skills— they have no study system or anything that allows them to move beyond homework completion. This approach means the student is perpetually “chasing” their class. Even when performing well, they never feel quite comfortable with the content. I have worked with many intelligent, high-performing students— this applies to them as well (and is one major reason why the college readiness gap is so large, even among high-performing students). Students often do not master the material but instead perform well-enough to get the points they need (and since so much discrepancy exists between different classes and teachers, the idea of “performing” can be arbitrary). With tutoring focused on addressing all of the “whats” in the class, a student’s study behavior is often overlooked. In doing so, we never properly make the correct adjustments to change things in a real way. And since most students that seek out tutors are struggling, this really misses the point.
Doesn’t Promote Self-Analysis
To really heighten a young mind, we must increase their self-awareness and self-analysis. To analyze oneself openly and honestly, but also accurately, is a skill most people never learn. We struggle to understand or identify what we’re good at, what we’re bad at, where we’re comfortable and where we aren’t, and most importantly, how come. Without a clear picture, we’re not able to make the adjustments needed to improve. Without discussion with a student that allows them to develop self-awareness and self-analysis, they will continue to drag along their self-limiting thoughts, poor habits, and short-term approach, never properly addressing them.
Maintains Where they Are
Since tutoring tends to take a short-term, what-approach, students are not afforded vision of the longer term. They cannot address why they are struggling. The more they see tutors, the more they feel the need to in order to survive. The tutor becomes a surrogate version of themselves: taking the course with them, week after week, month after month. About 80 percent of the time, students only maintain where they are. In some cases, they might pull their grade up by a letter (from say a C to a B) but for the amount of energy, work, and money involved, surely we should be doing better.
To close, there is a lot more I could discuss regarding the tutoring industry and the ramifications it has on students, but I thought discussing these five areas to start off paint the picture. Tutoring is not always bad, of course. Tutoring can be good in the short-term or to address a specific topic. But it usually does as much harm, if not more, than it does good. Tutoring, generally speaking, is bad for long-term growth, overall learning, and mastery of material. It also does not address a student’s managerial ability (modernly referred to as “executive functioning” but this is a term I avoid using as it isn’t comprehensive enough) or self-analysis.
The why behind a student’s performance is not only a fascinating area to investigate but one that can significantly empower and change them. When you are truly interested in developing a young person, this is where you must start.
