It really bums me out when the New Yorker piece on someone in our industry covers someone so… ugh, where do I even start?
- Peppermint is not “nature’s adderall,” and even if it were, the only stimulants that are good ideas here are the prescriptions you have for your actual real diagnosed condition.
- Only working for a few hours each day is not something to brag about. It suggests that striving for excellence isn’t a priority for you, bub. (And if not for you, then why for your students? Remember: you set an example.)
- The money you’ve been paid: again, not something to brag about. (Your students’ successes, on the other hand: go nuts, brother.)
- “Brain balm.” Oh god, don’t get me started.
The fact is: tutoring really is an expert skill. We may not be neurosurgeons, but… we aren’t the fly-by-night hokum this guy sounds like in print either.
At our best, we’re coaches, mentors, guides, patient co-travelers…
…at our best, we’re the teachers you remember thirty years later.
I agree – very lame article. I kind of wonder how the writer pitched this story to the tutor and his students. Did he think it would be complimentary? The serious tutors I know often spend at least as much time preparing for a session as they do teaching during the session itself. Also…an ACT back tattoo?! Haha
Good point, yes. Sheesh.