The Rise of Tutoring

My project, “The Art of Tutoring,” is an extension of my professional experience as a tutor. In these newsletters, I’ll explain how experienced tutors see American education, how they think about the learning process, and what it is they do to help their students achieve results. I am eager to explore what lies behind the rise of tutoring over the past three decades—in New York City, in America, and in the rest of the world.

At the heart of this Substack are several large and challenging questions that have important real-world applications:

• Who is responsible for a student’s success? The student? Her parents? Her particular teacher? Her school? The curriculum she follows?

• How does a student succeed? Through innate ability? Diligence and effort? The right textbooks? A supportive and like-minded community?

• Does a tutor get results that a teacher can’t? Is the tutor smarter? Better paid? More committed? Is the classroom itself a limiting factor?

There are innumerable variables that go into the learning process. A student’s own particular skills, talents, and abilities combine with environmental factors and lead to a flat A… or a solid B… a passing C… an unsatisfactory D… a failing F. Why? Why does one student succeed in one regional system and not in another? In one school and not another? In one class and not another? How can the variables be managed to achieve the successful outcomes we all wish for young learners?

When I was in high school in New York City in the late 1990s, the tutoring industry that we see today didn’t really exist. It wasn’t the norm to have a tutor in middle or high school (let alone more than one!). It wasn’t typical to see brick-and-mortar academic centers on city streets or in suburban commercial spaces. Students studying for the SAT could enroll in group classes to help prepare for the test and maybe (if parents could afford the expense) they hired an SAT tutor to help their children prepare one-on-one in their home. Otherwise, the career path I chose—that of a door-to-door, traveling tutor—wasn’t really available. But today tutoring seems to be everywhere and is frequently touted as the solution to so many academic struggles. Why?

How did this industry spring up over the last three decades? Why are parents turning to tutors when in some cases they are also spending many thousands of dollars on private school tuition? How did we get here?

I believe the answer lies at the intersection of two major social currents: first, growing dissatisfaction with educational institutions, public and private; and second, as Pawan Dhingra has argued in his Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough, neo-liberal parenting styles have led to more assertive cultivation of a child’s strengths and interests, in the hope of giving them opportunities and opening up avenues for advancement.

Furthermore, over the past three decades the expansion of neuropsychological research and practice, particularly into child development, has led to increased attention to the brain structures of young learners. As research has helped normalize learning differences, the prevalence of neuropsychological evaluations has also pathologized what may have once been considered normal development.

Finally, it is undeniable that the anxieties surrounding the college admissions process—some legitimate and some stubbornly misdirected—have led to the explosive interest in tutoring.

Because these socio-cultural and scientific factors have given rise to a $200-billion global industry, we must accept that there have been substantive changes in the way we—parents, students, teachers, administrators—see education, specifically a middle- and high-school education, and that implicitly our collective behavior has determined that tutoring is a valuable—and perhaps a necessary—part of the process in a way it never was before. Families increasingly order education à la carte, and hiring a tutor—whether for in-person or remote support—has never been easier.

Here is my definition of tutoring (whether one-on-one or in a small-group), which I think falls into two major categories:

1. The first is Grade-level Support, which is what parents seek for a child who is not meeting classroom expectations in one or more subjects (or what parents seek prophylactically when they fear their child is not going to do well in a particular course). This includes remedial support to help a student achieve grade-level benchmarks; or subject-specific academic assistance for a student who is either struggling or who feels the need to enhance what she is learning in the classroom; or academic mentorship to improve study skills, foster motivation, and help students who learn differently.

2. The second category is Enrichment, which is what parents want in order for their children to gain a competitive advantage. The two main drivers behind this tutoring include test prep for standardized tests (SAT, ACT, ISEE, SSAT, SHSAT, Regents Exams), and admissions guidance for students and families navigating the competitive worlds of college, high school, and even Kindergarten admissions. Some parents also want extracurricular academics to help their child develop particular specialized skills outside of the classroom.

Some families want a tutor because they feel their child is falling behind; others because they want their child to get ahead. Still others are fed up either with a school system they judge to be unresponsive to their child’s needs or with an inflexible teacher. Tutors can help solve all of these problems.

Education is controversial, and has been for a long time. What works for one family will be unacceptable to another. I believe that education is also deeply personal and should never be thought of as one-size-fits-all. Some of the most common concerns in education include:

• Public vs. private schooling—Is it advisable to move to a better school district or pay the hefty price tag for private or boarding school? Which one will be best for your child? Which will look best to colleges?

• Optimizing teacher-student ratios—Is it better to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond? How does the size of the class help or hinder learning?

• Balancing competitive athletics with academics—Will applying as an athlete give a leg up on college admissions? Are sports distracting your student from his studies?

• Curricular choices—Are traditional materials better than progressive ones? How should controversial topics be taught to young minds—and who gets to decide?

• Grade-level requirements—Do they really mean something or do they force teachers to “teach to the test?” How can test scores reflect the totality of a developing mind?

• IQ vs. EQ—How do schools balance intellectual rigor and social-emotional development? How do we navigate the tension between equity and excellence?

• Extracurriculars—What should your child be doing outside of his academic classes?

Looking at the last several millennia of education, one finds that formal schooling (that is, classroom learning) occupies only a small (and mainly recent) slice of the pie. It wasn’t until 1918 that compulsory public schooling was instituted in the United States. Before then, some states had education requirements, but K-12 schooling was not widespread. One-room schoolhouses and private tutors for those who could afford them were the norm. In Europe, going back to the Enlightenment, then through both the Renaissance and even the Medieval period, tutors prepared royal children and those from the upper classes for university, or church leaders took it upon themselves to educate the masses. Famous philosophers—among them, John Locke, Denis Diderot, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau—were all tutors at some point in their lives. Follow the history all the way back and one finds the most famous tutorial of all time: Aristotle and Alexander the Great. Tutoring has been around for centuries, and I believe it will continue to be for many more.

Which brings me to a key question: What role, if any, can—and perhaps, should—tutoring play in a child’s education?

In future newsletters, I will share insights from my work over the past two decades collaborating with students and education professionals: what I’ve experienced, what I’ve learned along the way, and how I think we should understand the special qualities of the tutor-tutee relationship.