Traditional tutoring
Subject-specific
Traditional tutoring assumes that if a student is struggling in a certain subject, they need to get help for THAT particular subject. Struggling with English? Get an English tutor. Hard time in Math? Get a Math tutor.
But guess what? You can’t solve a problem with the thinking that created it. School is subject-specific. Traditional tutoring is just more of the same. It might work in the short-term to pass the next test, but it doesn’t address the root of the issue.
Transactional
Bringing a stranger into your home to tell kids what they need to know – someone who doesn’t know how your child thinks, who doesn’t get their unique strengths, values and interests – won’t get the best out of them.
Plus, the most qualified tutor on paper often isn’t a good fit in real life. It sucks to watch kids struggle through a tutoring session with someone they obviously don’t click with.
Remedial
Most people get tutors when students are “struggling.” Now, this has a whole host of negative implications for mindset and sense of self, but perhaps most dangerous is that it teaches kids that they should only seek help when they’re doing poorly – rather than proactively building their strengths while bridging gaps.
Traditional tutoring is used as a bandaid or a cure, which at its core tells our kids it’s because they need to be fixed. This erodes kids’ motivation and engagement and almost always makes them feel stupid or inferior to their classmates.
Ad Hoc
Bringing a tutor in once in a while to help our kids study for a big test or write a certain essay reinforces the superficiality of getting a good grade on the next test. No consistency means no meaningful, sustainable skill-building or growth.
Overall this amounts to expending effort on short-term and short-sighted goals, without a strategy for long-term gains or growth. This is a monumental disservice to the student’s time, energy and potential.