It is interesting the regional and other differences that lead to tutors vs no tutors. We are at a very middle of the road public school and tutoring is used by kids mostly in the regular level classes who struggle. I haven’t heard of any of the top kids using tutors or college services, it’s not the norm anywhere in our town/region.
This is probably one of the reasons why the percentage of kids taking AP courses at our school is lower than the top schools, it is just the kids that either don’t care about straight As or can handle the work load on their own (or with khan academy assistance).
Completely agree. But, to kill the metaphor completely, if I need information about Kia’s vs Hyundai’s I’ll reach out to a crowd more likely to have done that research.
Broadening of perspectives is always good. A crack in the echo chamber can let in some beautiful sounds.
This sounds similar to our school district. Many have tutors (right from the summer before school starts) but not all will admit to it. The other kids without tutors (and who start to struggle) start to think they are not as smart as the others.
The private school across town handles things differently. Every school in the US is different. There’s a entire thread created by @nucities about grade differences between schools:
Re: College Counselors/Advisors: the most popular one in our area charges $4500 for the complete 9-12 four year package. They do everything from helping plan out high school course pathways and career/major research to helping find and secure summer programs/activities/volunteer opportunities, along with the essay topic exploration, editing, college app process and scholarship hunting. They have some lesser packages as well (only essay editing, 10 session package just for college apps etc).
My S23 twins finished this year in the top 6 & 7 percents (the competition between those two is fierce lol), without any private tutors. All 3 of my boys have used Khan Academy mostly when they’ve needed help inna subject, but I do see a lot of people hiring private tutors in my local moms facebook group.
Apologies @sushiritto! This thread is moving fast and I didn’t mean to respond to anyone in particular. I totally understand when the teacher is not adequate, and any student can get that teacher—especially during remote school.
I was thinking of my son, who is very unusual on CC. Like I said, he has actual D’s and F’s on his report card (hopefully not for the year, but it’ll be close), despite significant effort. So, straight B’s would be cause for celebration!
I’m sure he’s hearing a lot from AOs but none of it can be quoted or verified. He’s probably hoping to get quotes from parents and some emails with deets.
I’m sure all of the schools will spin this as the best class evah, but there were winners and losers.
fwiw, I’m still unsure of how our HS did with the top schools. Judging from my D’s friends and the instagram account showing where kids are going, it looks like a bad year.
All of my kids have used a math tutor and I don’t feel bad about it at all, I think they still deserved to be in those classes. They didn’t use her all the time, just when they felt they didn’t understand certain concepts throughout the years. The tutor is a good friend of mine who used to be a local high school math teacher which helps. D19 even did a few zoom tutor sessions this year from college when she had to finally suck it up and take calc.
As for college counselors there are some around here that are in the 5 figure range as well. One of my good friends decided at the last minute to use one for her son when he decided he wanted to ED to an Ivy. She called the woman a few weeks before the application was due. First the woman said no, I’m too busy, you should have called years ago. After my begged she agreed, if she would pay $6,000. For about three weeks of help!! My friend said even after the $6,000 the woman would charge her more if they needed help on another essay. I can’t imagine how much she costs for 3-4 years which is how long most of her clients use her. Her son did get in to his ED school, who knows how much more she would have had to pay if he didn’t!
Tutoring for top kids is pretty standard here, and I think it’s a combo of parents with money that are successful and we live in a college town full of potential tutors. It’s pretty easy to get a low level prof to tutor your kid.
My kids have never had a tutor because I’m cheap. lol.
DS had tutors in math and CS. He was very interested and advanced plus there was no one around his age that shared his interest. Neither parent could help so we got tutors and it was money well spent IMO.
What different worlds we live in! That would be an annual salary for some families in our kid’s high school, I imagine.
I honestly don’t know anyone hiring a tutor, let alone a college counselor in our area. I don’t know that it doesn’t exist, but I know it’s not a common thing.
In my D’s graduating class of 162, only sixty nine are going to four-year colleges (to start out, anyway). Of the sixty-nine, twenty-five are going to the state directional just up the road (20 minutes away). Another twenty-four are going to other instate publics, including the well-regarded but not-elite flagship and other directionals. Honestly, I only know of three going to the flagship, but one student got the highest merit scholarship to the honors college, a fine distinction. (He was actually admitted to Cornell, but not attending). Four are going to less-selective instate private colleges. Only seventeen are going to out-of-state public or private schools, representing a wide range of selectivity. By far, the highest-ranked school anyone is going to this year is Notre Dame, and that is an anomaly, as is my D (and two others) going to W&M (probably the next-highest in selectivity). Of the the rest, ten are going into the military, a large number to the local community college or directly to work. These 162 students don’t include 49 others from our district who opted for the technical/career-training high school. I know all of this because these numbers were given out at the graduation ceremony. As I said, a different world! Sometimes I bemoan the lack of highly academic peers surrounding my D, but in other ways It has made for a less-stressful life, for us, anyway (not for those struggling In the community). My D has been lucky to have had a built-in math tutor (her dad). We’ll see next year how her preparation (or lack of it) pans out.
I think society is getting way too loose with using term “privilege” insinuating that somehow people are taking advantage of an unjust or lucky situation. For the vast majority of people who pay for tutors they have ability to pay because of smart life choices for their career, hard work, and tremendous sacrifice. The ability to assist their kids results in a benefit for sure, but not a gift. The parents pay and the students put in the work.
Luckily my children didn’t need tutors but for those that use them I see any resulting benefit as a well earned just reward.
Tutors? No. I was responding to the comment about very expensive private college counselors with insider knowledge. Yes, that is a very privileged situation.
Uh… Career public school teacher here with two graduate degrees. I think that was a smart life choice. I worked very hard. I made tremendous sacrifices to raise 3 children completely on my own. (I adopted as a single woman.) I do not have the ability to pay for tutors or for college consultants. We live on a budget in this home.
Who would have thunk that paying a Stanford Physics PhD candidate for a few hours would create such controversy. I rather enjoyed his Australian accent.
Around these parts, you can probably cough and sneeze and get a Stanford grad student sick.
Heck, we have a Saturday morning doggy play date with two MIT grads each week.
Agree that your career and life choices sound like a good fit for you, and your academic achievements are
commendable. My wife is a public school teacher and that is a perfect vocation for her. And like most we live on a budget as well — especially with two two in college.
My only point is that the ability to pay for services is not necessarily indicative of an easy path or unjust opportunity. The student who attends a particular school because of the help of a counselor is no luckier than an athlete who gains admission without demonstrating normally required academic proficiency, or a student who is able to attend despite the inability to pay without need based scholarships and grants.
We all have are own situations to navigate best we can.
