My service standards
No pre-selection of good students
Thomas do not practice pre-selection of students, based on results, school or stream. He does not only take good students for the sake of good track records. There are no records of the performance of ex-students to show to eager parents at all because Thomas believes that the good results of other students’ guarantees nothing for the results of future students. Only a strong desire to do well and a determined, hardworking and persevering character guarantee any kind of success.
A commitment is a promise
Once Thomas agrees to take up a student, he will commit to it all the way until the student completes the year end exams or the national exams. He will not drop a student halfway because that is irresponsible. A promise is sacred to Thomas. This social contract, however, will be void if the student do not behave as what a student ought to do, despite numerous attempts to help. In the entire span of 10 yrs of tutoring (and counting), Thomas had dropped 4 students so far. Let not the fifth one be you.
Learning begins at tuition but does not stop outside of it
If he expects a student to do work outside of tuition hours, he will also expect students to ask him questions outside of tuition hours. Students can WhatsApp him any time to ask him about the subjects that Thomas can teach. He’ll try his best to answer as soon as possible. In the event that doubts cannot be clarified through WhatsApp messages, he will continue during face to face lessons. Thomas believes that if a student can make the effort to do 10 questions independently outside of tuition hours, he will reciprocally make the effort to answer 11 questions from that student.
Teaching a person, not the subject
Character and values are placed ahead of academic results, not behind. If there is a character flaw in a student's action, Thomas will not hesitate to scold and nag at the student. Thomas believes in inculcating the right values so that the student can get success in life. This may involve letting a student's grade suffer in minor exams so that the student can learn a bigger lesson in life. The best teaching moments occur after failures, not necessarily after success.