Tutoring: how young is too young?

[Editor1]

What age should you hire a tutor for your child? Does your child even need a tutor?

GeoSchools and the Hong Kong Education Blog consider the shocking reality of HK's tutor culture: everyone seems to be doing it, but is it for everyone?

Have you hired a tutor for your child? What were your reasons for doing so?

photo credits

 

[MommyTo3]

For me it's simple, I will only hire a tutor in case my child needs to catch up, not to push my child ahead. I had maths tutoring as a teenager (16-18 yo) and that's all, needed it as grades started to slip, but passed my national maths exam (at pre-university level) so was worth it.

My oldest daughter had a year of Mandarin tutoring as she was put in Pathway 2 (at ESF) and lacked confidence and was struggling to keep up. She's fine now and able to keep up by herself. She now follows Maths at Enopi / Eye Level as she's in the bottom of the middle group at school and struggling and we want to avoid having her slip down in the bottom group. Once she's fine, she's fine as I don't plan to spend money on tutors unless my child is behind and needs to catch up. Every child is different, they can't all be doctors and lawyers (or any other stereotype), they need to find something they love and they need to reach their fullest potential, which is different for every child.

 

[liumi]

my students never hire any tutor for their study and they grow up quite smooth. but i understand the situation in HK is changed now, so it really depends on what you want your child to have in their childhood...

 

[somebodyfamous]

Yes we hired a tutor to help with Putonghua homework as I cannot read nor write putonghua and I didn't want them to lose confidence in any area of their studies. I have really seen the difference in having a tutor with ability and confidence.

 

[rani]

We had to put our one in a tutoring class last year after I discovered our teacher wasn't correcting mistakes and couldn't be bothered. Was advised by the Deputy Principal to get a tutor. We have a fantastic teacher this year and haven't had to.

 

[RichJohnson]

I have been tutoring my son since he when to primary school. I feel giving he am hour or 2 of tutoring a night keeps him at the top of the class and will really help his life prospects.

 

[Style]

Although I am fluent in English, I consider my pronunciation not to be the best and I have been criticised for sounding too similar to my native tongue... I hired a tutor for my son (he was 4 years old, and I wanted him to be more fluent and confident for primary interviews), but unfortunately he moved over to Kowloon... He was an excellent tutor and my boy loved him (as well as my little girl, who would always try to break into the room when they were teaching phonics!). I have tried another two tutors since and both were uninspiring and lacking enthusiasm compared to the first.

 

[luckyjone]

it depends on how much you value education / learning. if your kids are struggling / starting to struggle, you should do sth immediately: parents / outside tutoring. if your kids are doing ok, you should try your best (it's ur kids, u should know/learn how) to ignite their curiosity / love for knowledge <-- this part a tutor may not be too helpful.

curious / love to learn students don't really need much tutoring. what they do need are guidance, environment, resources, and time.

 

[sasha37]

I am a former owner of a tutorial school myself! Took a bit of a break but am now back into teaching. I've just started again as a private tutor in English for kids and teens in ESL and IGCSE (English and History)....Anyway, when I operated my school we would get quite frequent requests for providing lessons even for kids, actually babies, as young as one!! I always felt that was quite inappropriate...but I see there is a thriving business in HK for pre nursery education....What ever happened to , well, "playing" ? As for tutoring once into upper kindergarten....well, it's fine, if the courses are fun and the parents just let the child learn naturally and not pushing for academic success at an inappropriate age. Ms Andrea