I’M IN THE WRONG LINE OF WORK
Diane Patterson tipped me off to a New York Times piece on tutoring in New York. Typically, some parents in Manhattan have gone way overboard and made grades and tutoring a blood sport. These are the same folks who “enroll” their child on a wait list for the most prestigious pre-schools even before the kid is born. Very much an upper-crust, money-is-no-object, status-is-everything disease. Apparently it’s contagious.
Manhattan has long been the epicenter of the kind of parental competitiveness that surrounds everything from getting into the best preschool through the best college, but people familiar with the landscape say many of those practices are beginning to migrate to Westchester.
“It’s definitely becoming in the suburbs like it was three years ago in Manhattan,” said Lisa Jacobson, chief executive of Inspirica, a company that offers tutoring, test preparation and high school, college and graduate school admissions counseling.
I obviously have nothing against tutoring, which has a bit in common with homeschooling. In fact, once or twice, I picked up a couple of dollars tutoring chemistry. But, this is just plain nuts.
“In general these parents don’t know what to do,” she said of her new customers. “They read about the valedictorian with the 1600’s who did not get in. People are trying to at least help their kids get to the level where they’re in line with everybody else. And then they go past that and try to get an edge.”
No way, no how. The 1600-scoring valedictorian who didn’t get in is a myth. No school is that exclusive, that competititve. So, these parents are paying big money to help their kids compete with someone who doesn’t exist. And, it is seriously big money.
Last year tutoring was a $4 billion business nationally, according to Eduventures Inc., an education market research and consultant concern based in Boston. The company predicts that in 2004, the tutoring market will be $4.56 billion and in 2005, $5.2 billion… Tutors in Westchester charge an average of about $85 per hour for academic subjects and $100 per hour for SAT tutoring. But there is a wide range. Inspirica’s tutors average $200 to $300, with top tutors commanding $400 per hour.
It’s their money and they can piss it away if they want, but I’m not sure these parents are helping their kids in the long run.
Tutors also reported that they have seen students who have become dependent on extra help. Some students stop listening in class, confident that the material will be reviewed later. Dr. Guthrie, the child psychiatrist, said that providing a great deal of extra help may set a child up for a fall in college.
“I think they can become very entitled and high-maintenance kids,” Dr. Guthrie said. “But anxiety sells, and there’s a huge industry of tutors out there selling cognitive enhancement. The problem is, we also create a lot of performance anxiety in our kids, and if they’ve been poked and prodded and preened and tutored, they run the risk of caving under the pressure.”
Several tutors, including a Bronxville tutor who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that college students they had once tutored in high school had sent them papers and homework assignments from college for editing and advice. The Bronxville tutor said, “At that point I tell them, ‘Grow up, honey.’ “
Hey! I’ll edit those college papers. Only $500 an hour! Call 1-800-462-3665. That’s 1-800-IM-A-FOOL. Call before midnight tonight (or at least before your final tomorrow).
3 Responses to “I’M IN THE WRONG LINE OF WORK”
 Comment by Tim Haas May 24th, 2004 at 7:21 am |
The rich are different from you and me. They’re stupid. |
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Comment by Daryl Cobranchi May 24th, 2004 at 7:39 am |
You mean I won’t be able to make $500 an hour? Damn! |
 Comment by meep May 24th, 2004 at 9:58 am |
There’s a reason past a certain point, I tutored only grad students. Who were paying for themselves. |