What It's Like Being a Physics Tutor: An Inside Look

[Andy Resnick]

<snip>
You should know this being a professor yourself, you must have more insight than I do?
<snip>

I've taught a wide range of students: remedial math (i.e. 'how to balance a checkbook') through pre-med Physics I and II, graduate and medical students.

Of course there is competition in school- life is competitive, and there are winners and losers. It's not true that medical schools only care about GPA and the MCAT- and I say this having been on the admission committee for a couple of years.

I've tried to point out that you cannot control the student- not their motivation, preparedness, work ethic, or any other quality you choose. Teachers have an obligation to try and meet the student on their terms- and note the word *try*.

That said, there's a difference between saying 'this particular student is not worth my time' and 'students are lazy grade-grubbing douchebags.'

 

[turbo]

That said, there's a difference between saying 'this particular student is not worth my time' and 'students are lazy grade-grubbing douchebags.'

My Freshman roommate was not lazy, but his school system left him ill-prepared to tackle technical/math courses in college. A big part of this was that there was a private academy in his town, and the wealthier "townies" sent their kids to that academy instead of to the public high schools. Instead of improving the public schools, they punted and allowed the private prep school to siphon off the wealthiest and/or smartest kids (some scholarships were awarded). Every proposal to establish "magnet" schools or set up voucher systems should be evaluated in this light. Are kids in public school systems going to be left behind, or can we perhaps improve the public schools for the benefit of the general population?

 

[Woopy]

I don't think all student's are grade grubbing douchebags. I just am saying, if the student in question is not even putting forth an effort to learn, why would I put forth an effort to teach? I'll gladly sit there for an hour and collect my $20 or whatever it is she's paying. You get what you put into it.

As a professor, you hardly get any face time with your students, unless they go to your office hours, and the ones that do that are putting in an effort to improve. The same would go for someone who is paying a tutor. What I'm seeing here is a girl who is having her parents pay for tutoring and her not even using it to its fullest, very selfish and stupid.

 

[Andy Resnick]

<snip>Are kids in public school systems going to be left behind, or can we perhaps improve the public schools for the benefit of the general population?

I've considered it ironic that on one hand, the general public complains that many (read urban, rural, impoverished) children fail to receive a quality K-12 public education and on the other, treats those K-12 teachers as clueless failures- with the pay scale to match. Not to mention that same public usually refuses to contribute financially to the school system (here, K-12 school are funded through property taxes)

Here at CSU, we have started a partnership program with the Cleveland public school district to create a new public school based on the IB curriculum. This school is currently K-3, with a new grade to be added every year, and both provides students with a high-quality education and provides the Education Department a 'laboratory' to train future K-12 teachers. Our SPS chapter goes there every Friday and gives the 1st graders a Physics demonstration/carnival as well.

Don't get me started on the No Child Left Behind/Race to the Top/"Let's expose 8-year old kids to test anxiety" mentality.

 

[Woopy]

Andy I want you as my professor if you won't expose us to test anxiety

 

[bcrowell]

Reading Jack21222's #1, I get two impressions: (1) Jack21222 was too nice to the student, and did too much of the work for her. (2) It's a no-win situation, because the student's Physics 1 teacher didn't have appropriate standards and let her slip through with a C that should have been an F. That kicks the can down the road to the Physics 2 teacher, whose responsibility is now to fail the student so that she can get the message and change to a more appropriate major (or get the message that college is not really for her, if this is evidence of a broader problem).

 

[Woopy]

Ben crowell I heard about you, everyone says you are gnarly as a teacher. I'm doing physics 221 at cypress though next semester