Recently, private tutoring has evolved into big business. Many students flock to different tutorial centers to get better equipped for the public exam. Some people lament the phenomenon, claiming that the trend is giving a blow to the education sector and even the growth of teenagers. Write a letter to the editor to voice your views.
Dear Editor,
I am writing to voice my views on the phenomenon of the flourishing tutoring business. Commercials of colossal tutorial centers on newspaper or television are indeed commonplace. As a student myself, it would be surprising to see friends who have not gone to a tutorial center for once. Some people lament the phenomenon, claiming that the trend is giving a blow to the education sector and even the growth of teenagers. While it is kind of miserable that most of us have to visit tutorial centers for better results, it is high time we reflected on the reasons and consequences of this phenomenon.
Undeniably, the spring-up of big tutorial centers has changed the way of learning of many local students. Some of them rely on those centers rather than their own schools. While school teachers tend to teach the topics slowly from the basics, tutors pinpoint the core ideas. They distribute so-called marvellous notes and smashing tips to provide students a shortcut to success. Students yen for notes from celebrity tutors. This has shown that students become more reliable on tutorial centers, rather than schools. Is this desirable?
This trend even affects how the public exams work. As the tutors seem to have seen through the rules of the infamous game of HKDSE, the Exams Authority has to alter the exam formats and requirements constantly. The exam has become more tricky and demanding. It is so frustrating that the authority is adjusting the exam to cope with the tutorial centers. In order to feel more secure, more students join tutorials to better prepare themselves.
Besides giving a blast to the education sector, the trend of teenagers flocking to tutorial centers, of course, affects the growth of we teenagers. Students are unable to experience the true meaning of learning. The tutorial centers and the Education Bureau could be said as the accomplice of distorting the real purpose of education, making the whole thing further exam-oriented. For example, many Maths tutors simply offer students programmes in calculator instead of teaching how to solve the questions. This is just an alternative form of spoon-feeding education. Lamentably, nowadays, probably not the cleverest and most diligent students win in the exam game but those who are smart enough to understand the marking schemes in their hands. Tutorial centers have helped exacerbate the exam-oriented phenomenon.
The trend also adds pressure on students. Many of us feel losing out if not going to the centers. In order to boost results, it is not uncommon to students applying for several courses. After a tiring school day, they still have to attend countless hours of tutorials but their focus must have already drifted away. In a word, students are losing their independence to choose what kind of learning which best suits themselves. The trend seems to symbolize that learning from tutorial centers is the most efficient and has discouraged students to learn in their own ways. In fact, students should have their own unique ways to study, instead of being pressurized to blindly follow the tutoring trend.
Although I have been dashing the big tutoring business, it is true that these centers do help we students to survive in the fierce competition. Why can tutoring become such a giant business in Hong Kong? It is exactly due to the current education system. The trend of students flocking to tutorial centers is lamentable, but it is the whole education system that we should blame. It is hoped that students can decide how to learn on their own and the department concerned can make the system less exam –oriented.
Yours faithfully,
Chris Wong
Chris Wong
Yuen Yin Kiu Christie
6E 2015-16