6th October 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
There was an article published recently on our site that reported on tuition in Hong Kong, and how it’s become more about how much of a celebrity your tutor is, rather than how well he/she can teach. Of course, the whole point is that, in Hong Kong, people find it difficult to make the distinction between popular celebrity and good tutor, and it’s slightly worrying.
Tutor in the UK generally communicates a one-to-one teacher. Indeed this is the definition of tutor, and where the word comes from. However, in many places, but particularly in Hong Kong, the idea of a tutor has simply begun to mean extra-teaching, including ‘cram-schools’ which, despite their intimidating name, are increasingly popular in the former British colony.
What you’ll find, when attending a tutor’s cram-school in Hong Kong, is a lecture hall, full of 17-18 year old students desperately worried about their performance in university admissions exams. In front of them will be their tutor, ticking all the boxes their students would want: energy, confidence, passion, great explanations of the material, and (maybe most importantly to the Hong Kong students) attractiveness.
So what’s the problem? There’s no question that these lecturing tutors are good at what they do, and it’s difficult to think of another way to communicate so effectively with so many students in such a short period of time. The concern is that this isn’t tuition. Everything you’ll read about how effective private tuition can be, is based upon one-to-one teaching where the student has the opportunity to take the lesson in the direction they need it to go and ask their tutor whenever they don’t understand something.
It could be argued that a prescriptive style is what the students in Hong Kong need. Many of them want to be told how to succeed; it’s direction they need, not someone to improve understanding in areas the student decides to study. However, surely this direction, given en mass as if every student is the same, is something that could be a recorded Youtube video, available to all, or at least available at a fraction of the cost that the students currently pay.
Research suggests that the Hong Kong cram-schools do work, but, as ever, it’s something which is very difficult to conclusively prove. The students willing to put more time and effort (and money) into their studies are those more likely to succeed anyway. If you were to ask any tutor (one-to-one tutor) how effective a lecture can be compared to genuine tuition, the answers are likely to unanimously be ‘there is no comparison’.