The student news site of Clayton High School.

The Globe

The student news site of Clayton High School.

The Globe

The student news site of Clayton High School.

The Globe

Use of tutors raises questions

CHS is undoubtedly one of the best public schools in the state and the nation; it employs a top-tier staff and churns out bright, prepared students.  Yet despite Clayton’s educational prowess, students’ use of tutors would seem like a slap in the face to the school’s acclaim.  The obvious question, then, is why do so many students at such a great school need extra help?

The prevalent use of tutors is not unique to Clayton, according to Math Department Chair David Kohmetscher. Though he has only taught at Clayton, he said that comparable schools like Ladue have the same problems.

“Any schools that send kids to the universities that we send kids to have the same tutoring issues that we have,” Kohmetscher said. “We’re talking about kids with high aspirations, parents with high expectations, and parents with income that affords them the opportunity to give their kids every opportunity.  It’s kind of the perfect storm for having tutors.”

While he has never seen any solid data on why students use tutors, he said he thinks a lot of it has to do with the high-stress environment of CHS.  Taylor Gold, who has been using a tutor since freshman year, said that tutoring is a tool to deal with the pressures of high school academics.

Teacher Jane Glenn assists freshmen Leslie Goodman with her math homework. Students have begun to use their teachers as resources outside of the class room for help instead of paying for costly tutors. To meet this demand the math department now staffs the math learning center.
Teacher Jane Glenn assists freshmen Leslie Goodman with her math homework. Students have begun to use their teachers as resources outside of the class room for help instead of paying for costly tutors. To meet this demand the math department now staffs the math learning center.

“It’s because there’s a lot of pressure, so tutoring really helps give that extra boost of confidence that you are doing everything right,” Gold said.

In addition, she said that tutoring provided a different perspective when the way her teachers’ way of explaining things wasn’t sufficient.  Haley Wartman said that students also use tutors as a result of the huge gap between honors and non-honors classes.

“[Students use tutors] because the differences between the regular classes and the honors classes are so extreme that you can either be bored in a regular class or really challenged in an honors class and the people that are really challenged in an honors class need a little help,” Wartman said.

However, Kohmetscher said that sometimes it is whether a student is placed in the appropriate class that determines whether they need a tutor.

“I don’t know that we have a lot of people who are in their correct place curriculum-wise who have to have a tutor to be successful, as long as you realize that successful can be anything from an A to a B or a C for some kids,” Kohmetscher said.  “Getting a C in an honors class, for some kids should be a success – most kids don’t consider it to be one.  I think there are people who feel like if they don’t have all A’s on their transcript, they’re not going to get into their college of choice or their top four colleges of choice.”

To give students a option for out-of-class help other than tutoring, teachers encourage students to see them before and after school and during their free periods. Kohmetscher said that this was not the case when he was in high school and that it is good for teachers to be a student’s first resource.  The Math Department also piloted the Math Learning Center this year, which let students seek help any period from a math teacher.  But Gold said that telling student to come in outside of class isn’t always practical.

“Most teachers say that if you come in they’ll help you, but many times they have other meetings and other obligations, and it’s hard to find time in a busy schedule to come in early or stay after school,” Gold said.

The inability to seek help from a teacher often leaves students with no option but to face possibly the most daunting aspect of being tutored: cost.  Some tutors charge upwards of eighty dollars an hour, and seeing a tutor twice a week for two hours could easily amount to a huge bill to pay.  For some, it’s worth the price.

“I think that it depends on the tutor, and if you really like your tutor and you’re getting better grades then it may be worth it to pay the extra amount,” Gold said.

ACT and SAT tutors can be especially pricy; Kohmetscher called them “crazy.”  He said that it is the type of tutoring and the type of knowledge gained that dictates the worth of the service.

“If I can go to an ACT tutor that’s going to get me four points on my ACT, is it worth six, seven, or eight hundred dollars?  I don’t know, I would argue probably not, unless they’re teaching me content, teaching me how to problem solve, so when I go off to college I’ve got some new set of skills that’s going to help me be successful,” Kohmetscher said. If all I’m learning are tricks to improve my score without improving my ability, I’d be a little bit leery.”

The issue of teaching knowledge versus teaching tricks raises one of the many moral issues surrounding tutoring.  Gold said that high SAT and ACT scores can be used for scholarships and that the score is the most important part, not the knowledge.  Margaret Mulligan, who uses an ACT tutor, said that she doesn’t learn material but is taught test-taking skills.  But Kohmetscher said the idea of seeing a tutor to boost your score is essentially cheating oneself.

“I would much rather have my children take an ACT or an SAT and go to a school that their ability qualifies them for rather than, ‘Let’s get a tutor, let’s inflate my ACT and my SAT score so I can get into a school,’” Kohmetscher said.  “I’d rather be in a school where I’m amongst my peers rather than I’m at a school where I’m at the 80th percentile of my peers.”

Bianca Vannucci agrees with Kohmetscher.  She said that she thinks many use tutors to stay in classes that aren’t right for them and that students shouldn’t use tutoring just to get a boost.  Vannucci said that she agrees with a sort of educational Darwinism – if a student wouldn’t do themselves then they shouldn’t.

“That’s not how life is going to be,” Vannucci said.  “Once you’re at your job, you’re not going to have someone who’s tutoring you.  In the end it’s what you can do and what field you are developing by yourself, and so I think it’s more helpful to just go through life having teachers who maybe don’t make 100 percent sense, but then maybe what you take away from the class isn’t everything about math, but there’s also a little bit of ‘life is unfair, you’re not always going to get the score you want.’”

Whether ethical or not, the fact remains that many CHS students find the teaching they receive in school insufficient.  Vannucci said that often the problem lies in a teacher not being right for a class or a student not being right for a class, but it’s often hard to tell which is responsible.  Kohmetscher said that maintaining CHS as a high-level school requires rigorous courses and academic pressure, even though this often leads to students using tutors.

“I think people point fingers all over the place, at the curriculum, at this, but what they have to understand is that it’s our difficult curriculum, it’s our high expectations that make this such a good college-preparatory institution,” Kohmetscher said.  “You can’t have it both ways.”

Leave a Comment
Donate to The Globe
$50
$2000
Contributed
Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Clayton High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to The Globe
$50
$2000
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

The Globe intends for this area to be used to foster healthy, thought-provoking discussion. Comments are expected to adhere to our standards and to be respectful and constructive. As such, we do not permit the use of profanity, foul language, personal attacks, or the use of language that might be interpreted as libelous. Comments are reviewed and must be approved by a moderator to ensure that they meet these standards. The Globe does not allow anonymous comments, and The Globe requires a valid email address. The email address will not be displayed but will be used to confirm your comments.
All The Globe Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activate Search
The student news site of Clayton High School.
Use of tutors raises questions