I recently came to know of a practice by certain tutors who claimed to have a guaranteed policy in their students' results. I highly disapprove of it; I'm not the one sitting for the exams, so how can I guarantee something that I cannot control entirely?
My student came from a 'neighborhood' jc. When she tried to contact that tutor, she was asked which jc she came from. After she replied, that's it - no more replies from that tutor even after repeatedly attempts. From what I experienced, if someone slowed down their pace of reply, that means that they are not interested. You don't even have to say "Nope, I'm not interested, sorry!", even though that would certainly be more civil and polite. My poor student ended up wondering if it's because of her 'neighborhood' status that made that tutor reply in this shoddy and rude manner.
If that's the way tutors guaranteed good results, by pre-selecting students, then I would rather not guarantee anything. Since there's no records to show others, there'll be no need to give a pre-intake test or a pre-questionaire to find out which school you're from, and all the other 'pre-s' to select the good students from the 'bad' ones.
I thought the point here is to make bad students better, not just to make good students the best? Maybe it's me who is delusional here.
I'm not idealistic. I realised that a 'bad' student can be emotionally very draining. I can't have 100% of my students like that, because I'll burn out! But the chances of having this is so slim, that if you're to take a normal work year, chances are that you'll have a majority being 'okay' students, and very few 'very good' and 'very bad' students under your care. Nature has a way of normalising your cohort of students. Good students are easier to teach, but 'bad' ones are the ones that will truly fine tune your teaching skills, your communication skills, your patience, your way of looking at things and your assumptions. Best of all, if you pull it off, they are the ones that will be the most memorable to you and the most rewarding.
Still not convinced? How about this - they are the ones that will refer you like you're some tuition god, because that's what they see you as!
My student came from a 'neighborhood' jc. When she tried to contact that tutor, she was asked which jc she came from. After she replied, that's it - no more replies from that tutor even after repeatedly attempts. From what I experienced, if someone slowed down their pace of reply, that means that they are not interested. You don't even have to say "Nope, I'm not interested, sorry!", even though that would certainly be more civil and polite. My poor student ended up wondering if it's because of her 'neighborhood' status that made that tutor reply in this shoddy and rude manner.
If that's the way tutors guaranteed good results, by pre-selecting students, then I would rather not guarantee anything. Since there's no records to show others, there'll be no need to give a pre-intake test or a pre-questionaire to find out which school you're from, and all the other 'pre-s' to select the good students from the 'bad' ones.
I thought the point here is to make bad students better, not just to make good students the best? Maybe it's me who is delusional here.
I'm not idealistic. I realised that a 'bad' student can be emotionally very draining. I can't have 100% of my students like that, because I'll burn out! But the chances of having this is so slim, that if you're to take a normal work year, chances are that you'll have a majority being 'okay' students, and very few 'very good' and 'very bad' students under your care. Nature has a way of normalising your cohort of students. Good students are easier to teach, but 'bad' ones are the ones that will truly fine tune your teaching skills, your communication skills, your patience, your way of looking at things and your assumptions. Best of all, if you pull it off, they are the ones that will be the most memorable to you and the most rewarding.
Still not convinced? How about this - they are the ones that will refer you like you're some tuition god, because that's what they see you as!
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