Do tutors help or hinder the learning process?

Almost two years ago, then-freshman Akshar Sarvesh enrolled in the hardest class he had ever taken: Precalculus Honors with PJ Yim.

Knowing the challenge he was taking on, he and his mother did what many Saratoga students do: They decided to get a private tutor, in this case Dhanya Premakumar, a well-known math tutor in the area.

With the school’s academically competitive environment, it’s hardly a surprise when students choose to take AP or Honors classes, even if the classes push them to their limits. Some of these students end up dropping the class, but others use tutors to help learn the challenging material.

Questions about tutoring include whether hiring them is fair and whether they lead students to develop a dependence on always needing outside help.

Sarvesh said that after struggling in his first semester of Precalculus Honors even with extra help from his tutor, he realized that having a tutor to guide him was important and he appreciated the decision that he and his mother made. Later in the school year, he became more familiar with the style of Yim’s class and managed to keep up more with its pace, but he did not stop his tutoring sessions.

This school year, Sarvesh continued using Premakumar’s services for his AP Calculus BC class, also taught by Yim.

Once a week, Sarvesh meets Premakumar in a two-on-one private session, along with junior Krisha Minocha, to go over the math topics that he has learned in class. Premakumar reinforces the material by deriving formulas and giving extra homework problems to better prepare Sarvesh for his upcoming classes and tests. Premakumar charges $60 per hour for her services.

From a Facebook survey of 95 students, 27 said that they have private tutors for one or more of their school classes. The most common subject for tutoring was math, closely followed by science. Ten students said that they had two tutors, and one said that they had three.

The Jay Koo Academy, a popular private tutoring company in the area, charges $270 per 110-minute private session. According to tutors.com, however, the average price for a private math tutor is $40 per hour, although it may range from $25 to $90 for different locations.

Some students such as junior Eric Che think that tutors can hinder independent learning. He has never had a tutor.

“I think it’s good to learn things by yourself because as you grow up, you have to learn how to do things independently,” Che said. “Tutors can be unhealthy because you automatically rely on them instead of doing your work by yourself.”

Che said that students may be driven to find private tutors because they want education from an outside professional. But he also believes that there are sometimes incorrect associations between tutors and success.

“Whenever someone’s not doing well in a class, they can say, ‘I can just get a tutor,’” he said. “They believe that by having tutors, they’ll automatically do well in the class.”

When Che was struggling in his English class, he chose to deal with his troubles himself by talking to his teacher instead to turning to a private tutor. He said that teachers are free resources to students, and that “it’s nice to take advantage of what you already have.”

Even though Che has chosen not to go to a paid tutor, he said he does not look down or think lower of his friends who have tutors since he thinks each person learns in a different way.

AP Physics teacher Kirk Davis has noticed that few students come during daily tutorials to ask him questions except on days before tests. Davis said that while outside tutoring can be effective, students might as well ask him questions for free instead of paying a tutor for the same knowledge.

He does not know which of his students have tutors and has no intention of trying to find out as long as their tutors do not cater their sessions to his particular class.

“What I am concerned about is that some tutors try to teach to a specific class as opposed to the subject,” Davis said. “There are tutoring services I know that tailor their tutoring classes to a specific teacher, and I think that becomes problematic, especially when the tutors try to get access to tests.”

Guidance counselor Alinna Satake said that private tutoring is not a cure-all for struggling students. Before resorting to expensive and perhaps unqualified tutors, Satake said students should check the school’s free tutoring center, which provides student tutors who have taken the course before.

Satake also said that while learning should be challenging, taking a class should not require a “course preview” during the summer or any other form of outside tutoring. Rather, she suggested that students who are not ready for a course simply should not take it.

However, junior Claire Smerdon, who has private tutors for AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry and the ACT, said tutors can be an important tool for students to reach their full potential.

“When you take a hard class, like an AP or honors class, you don’t have to take it because you’re great at that subject,” Smerdon said. “You can take it because you want to be stretched and you want to learn, and you can also take it because you want it on your college applications. There’s a lot of different reasons besides just being good at the subject.”

She said having a tutor can be especially beneficial if the student is willing to put in extra work and make use of the resources the tutor offers.

However, Smerdon said too much reliance could hinder a student’s work ethic in the future.

“Tutors can give you a lot of structure,” Smerdon said. “But depending on how much you rely on your tutor, it could get to a point where if you go to college, you could be very overwhelmed with not having someone who can give you the answers, and having to problem-solve and study by yourself.”

Smerdon receives tutoring from South Bay Learning Academy for private tutoring sessions in Calculus and Chemistry, both of which cost $90 an hour, and from AJ Academy for ACT, which costs $250 an hour.

Sarvesh said he realizes tutors alone can’t magically make a students overnight geniuses in a tough subject like calculus, but they can help them tackle challenges they might not otherwise attempt.

“I want to be going as far as I can, and if a tutor is necessary to help me get there, then that’s what I have to do,” he said.

Sarvesh added that getting private tutors is ultimately an individual choice.

“You shouldn’t feel obliged to take a tutor, but you also shouldn’t feel shameful or wimpy when you do take a tutor because there’s nothing wrong with it,” Sarvesh said.