I am not sure where the whole idea of extra tutoring began but it was not a common practice when I was a high school student many, many years ago. I graduated from high school in 1977 and I never considered getting a tutor in any subject. Its not that I couldn’t use the help. I was a kid that did “just enough” and ended up graduating high school with 2.6 GPA. (Thank goodness for the As and Bs I got in math classes and band.) The first time I paid for a tutor was in 1998, when I was trying to pass a course in Abstract Algebra at the University of Georgia as an undergraduate.

Once I started teaching high school math in 1999, tutoring had become rather commonplace to use. When I got my first teaching job in December 1999, I supplemented my income by being a traveling tutor in Northern California. When I moved to Norfolk, Virginia, in August 2000, I continued the practice of getting extra money by tutoring for a private tutoring company. (I even tutored a couple of my students in the evening until my principal informed me that it was against school policy to do that. I understood why but I just didn’t know that there was such a policy.) At the school I worked at, math teachers took turns tutoring students before school. Every school I have worked at since then has had some sort of expectation for extra tutoring.

The question in my mind is “What happened from 1997 to 1998?” A lot of this cultural shift seems to be the emphasis on every student going to college somewhere. When I was a high school student, I don’t remember a strong emphasis on the average student going to college. In my family, we lived by the Charlie Daniels Band lyric, “A rich man goes to college and a poor man goes to work.” My parents just said it was too expensive and nobody told me anything about financial aid and scholarships. (I knew athletes got scholarships but I knew very little about academic scholarships. I was told about going to University of Virginia for free through Army ROTC but I felt I was too good for the military and not good enough for UVA. Growing up in a military area had that effect on me.) I thought, therefore, my best route was to get a government job. I never received a government job.

In 1995, I decided to return to college. By that time, many more middle-income students were entering and finishing college. As a result, tutoring had become much more important. It is my guess that this was probably the result of many upper-middle-income students getting tutoring help to improve their SAT scores. (I think that this behavior trickled down to all levels of students who could afford it.) The competition for “the right college” had begun. Then many schools, public and private, figured this was the magic bullet to the achievement gap of academics. I remember one school in Northeast, I think, that, after 8 hours of teaching, required another 4 hours of tutoring.

In my opinion, this amount of tutoring is a red flag about the current education requirements. That is, if that many people need extra help, then we are asking too much of the student.

Despite protestations, the need and offering of tutoring still continues. Therefore, as a “core” teacher of mathematics, it is my duty to provide tutoring as much as I can. In my classes, I offer an “open door” approach to tutoring. That is, if you ask for it, I will do all I can to provide it. I have a couple of students who take me up on this offer on a regular basis. When I realize this, I recognize that a more efficient approach is needed.

Then, one day, an idea came out of the blue. I was talking to a parent one afternoon and she said, “I would teach him myself but it’s been a long time since I did that stuff.” As a result, a grand idea popped in my head; “Why don’t I offer to tutor parents so they can better guide their kids?!” I suddenly loved the idea. If you think about it, it makes total sense. Parents are paying the money so no time will be wasted. Not only that but I will total focus of the parent. Also, I won’t just be guiding someone through problem but I will be presenting the over-arching concept. On top of that, it will be more cost efficient because parents will be able to help the student at the moment that they get lost on the topic. It will mostly be another source of bonding with parent and child. It seems to be a win-win for everyone.

I believe in this some much that I have launched a tutoring service for parents. I have a nationwide Google ad, offering tutoring for parents at a negotiable $35/hour. I am willing to use Skype, FaceTime, etc., to tutor parents in need. I even envision tutoring groups of parents for a cheaper perversion rate. If you want to check out my qualifications and experience, go to drboguynn.com. If you want to set up a session, or have a 15-minute free consultation, you can call or text me at 757-346-9173. (If I don’t answer, please leave me a voicemail or text me at the same number.)