'Tutoring-Industrial Complex' Pushes Student High-Achievement (AUDIO)

As students settle in to the new school year and as mid-semester grades start trickling in, students who are looking for another boost in their academics are foraying into hiring from the booming tutoring industry.

With heightened competition of college admissions among America's high schoolers, the pressure to ace their four years and aim for high marks on the SATs and standardized tests has become an even greater incentive to seek help from professionals. Tutors could sometimes cost up to $800 hourly, according to American Public Media's Marketplace Morning Report.

Marketplace Morning Report chatted with Missy Sullivan, senior editor for Smart Money magazine, about America's "tutoring-industrial complex."

In an article for Smart Money last week, Sullivan writes that tutoring has become a $5 billion industry that is 10 times larger than it was just a decade ago.

Whereas the U.S. Department of Education has an estimated 600,000 students across the country who are receiving free tutoring for attending schools that haven't reached academic goals, Sullivan notes that tutoring for others isn't just about having kids catch up with the rest of the class, but to be at the top and make sure they're strong across the board.

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Comments

[SeptimusDSX]

09:27 AM on 10/19/2011

$800/hr? Are this kids learning how to analyze data from the LHC?

I tutor college students at $10/hr if they can afford it. If not, just bring in food/cookies or something. Many of the students I help come from a difficult background and work more than one job to make ends meet. I feel really bad to charge them for something which should ideally be free. :(

[white dude lulz]

05:22 PM on 10/18/2011

Why has no one responded to my $800/hr math/science/English advertisement on Craigslist???? Should I drop the price to $700/hr?

[umbrarchist]

03:24 PM on 10/18/2011

So what will good educational software on inexpensive computers do? But then we can't even create a National Recommended Reading List.

Solve Elec: draw and analyze electrical circuits
http://www.physicsbox.com/indexsolveelec2en.html

Celestia: space simulation of the universe in 3D
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

GeoGebra: Interactive graphics, algebra and spreadsheet
http://www.geogebra.org/cms/

Logisim: Digital logic circuit simulator
http://sourceforge.net/projects/circuit/

There Will Be School Tomorrow, by V. E. Thiessen
www.feedbooks.com/userbook/11643.pdf

[Vic22]

12:52 PM on 10/18/2011

Let kids be kids! This is why the rich get richer. The Ivy League and comparable schools want kids trained from a young age to be "Ivy League Material." Perfect scores, grades, and extra curriculars. To the people wit the best resources, these things are much more attainable

[J R M]

12:37 PM on 10/18/2011

There is way too much emphasis upon admission to highly selective private schools - at the associated exorbitant cost. If kids can be encouraged and supported to develop efficient study skills and learn to work hard for long periods they will do well - and it likely that most will not need tutoring.

The traditional college path is not particularly cost effective. There is a cheaper approach.

Bust your but in high school and load up on IB/AP classes. Study hard - you may not do much else.
Take the IB/AP tests for college credit. You may be able to knock a year of college level prep courses out.
Go to a good community college. Some states have joint high school / community college programs. If so, take advantage of it.

Figure out what and where you want to study and what courses they want you have taken when you transfer in as a Junior. Take them in community college. Study really hard. You must master the material and do well.

Apply for admission as a transfer student. You are out 2 years of college expenses, not 4.

I am heading both of my kids for this route - although my daughter may break the plan and go for early admission to University of Washington Honors Program right out of 10th grade. If she gets into that program (I give her ~50% odds), I will not say no even though it will cost me a lot of money.

[SF TKF]

01:47 PM on 10/18/2011

All top students should be funneled into college prep track at community colleges (so early admission to 4 year universities) so that they're not just doubling up on work the last two years of high school and the first two years of college. This would allow the schools to really focus on the kids that NEED extra help and repetition and would allow the best and brightest a jump start on their lives.

[sydneymoon]

05:31 PM on 10/18/2011

You offer some great ways to save $$$.
My son took AP classes and secured (36?)credit hours as he entered as a freshman.