As a parent, you might have found yourself wondering whether or not tutoring can help your child in their academic journey, and if tutoring has any tangible benefits. There was a time when it was felt that tutoring was only for weak students, that its only purpose was to help children with bad grades perform better in academics. Today, more and more people are opting for tutors to supplement their children’s academic performance and many of the top students in class avail some tutoring service.
Let us look at some ways in which tutors can help your child in academics:
- Individualized Learning
Schools employ the traditional teaching method, where the emphasis is on efficiency and maximizing output. In public schools, and often even in private schools, teachers adopt teaching methodologies that benefit the majority of students. They aim to impart overall knowledge of a subject in a limited timeframe. No matter how honest and sincere teachers are to their profession, there are constraints of practicality. A teacher cannot give individualized attention to students and their learning progress.
Tutors, on the other hand, engage in one-to-one interaction with students, where their sole aim is to assist students in learning. They employ the techniques and strategies that best fit the individual, hence making learning effective for the child. This gives the child a competitive advantage over other students.
- Relaxed Environments Promote Learning
One of the strongest variables that affect learning is the relationship between the instructor and the student. Children often report that studying with a tutor is similar to studying with a friend, and, more importantly, a friend who knows what they are teaching! The comfortable and relaxed environment of online or in-person private tutoring is difficult to achieve otherwise.
- Tutors Encourage Critical Thinking
A tutor’s job is to teach children how to think. Margaret Mead said it best,
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
Good tutors teach children to critically analyze written text, to ask questions, to find their own answers, and to use the full extent of their cognitive abilities when learning. Thus, under the guidance of tutors, students can arrive at the deeper meaning of texts, instead of being limited to surface-level meaning.
- Your Child Becomes an Independent Learner
The ultimate goal of tutoring is to make students independent learners. A good tutor does not do the child’s work for him/her but shows them how to do it. When working with a tutor, students learn study skills that enable them to tackle their projects and assignments effectively, and eventually be able to do their work by themselves.
- Tutoring Can Boost Grades
Research shows that tutors can help students improve their grades, regardless of where the grades stand. Whether your child has poor grades or mediocre ones, a tutor can help bring their grades a notch up. Sometimes, increasing academic performance can be the simple result of repetition and practice under a tutor.
- Your Child Acquires Self-Confidence
If your child feels behind in their studies, it can affect their self-esteem. Whether they struggle in a particular subject or are not satisfied with the school’s teaching methodology, tutoring brings them up to par with their peers. In this way, their self-confidence improves, and their self-esteem is restored.
- Tutoring Improves SAT Score
If students plan to take any standardized tests for their college applications, such as SAT or ACT, tutoring can drastically increase their performance and help them score better. One-on-one SAT tutoring is guaranteed to raise a student’s test score and help them get admission into a college of their choice.
