to think people who pay for private tuition are just cheating?

[mdowdall]

There should be a stealth tax on all private tuition so that all private tutors have to be registered and charge, say, £500 an hour (enough to derter most families) - most of it going back to the treasury. I mean, why should the kids of pushy middle class parents do better in their grades than they ordinarily would have done just because they can afford to pay for extra tuition? People should just accept, if their kids are a bit thick in certain subjects, well, tough.
(btw - kids with autism, other probs etc - Im not including them - they should get all the free extra private tuition they need)

Welcome to the real world.

What an ignorant post.

My niece had a private tutor for one of her GCSE subjects - simply because her teacher was AWFUL, and my sister and BIL are certainly not 'pushy middle class parents'.

In many cases, it is necessary for a number of children who are struggling, and either need extra one to one tuition, or just need a good teacher, not because they are 'a bit thick'.

How rude and silly to think that children shouldn't be encouraged to do their best.

It's cheating JaneFonda. There is encouraging them to do their best and their is moving the goalposts. The two are different. Your sister's kid's grades have been artificially inflated.

So... if private tuition is banned, then only the children of pushy parents who are able to give their child extra help themselves will get extra help?

Making the state education system decent might be a start

sorry, their should be there DOH

Does that mean I can stop helping DD1 with her homework?

Please say I can, because it's really hard work (the motivating her bit, not the schoolwork).

I mean, I must be giving her an unfair advantage to DC whose parents don't help them?

hehe, I can see you're being inflammatory though saying things like 'pushy MC parents' and 'if their kids are a bit thick in certain subjects'

Oh you are a brick

smallwhitecat - in the case of SN, it helping kids who have had a difficult start or problems - effectively kids who started out with a disadvantage. Seems fair enough to me that they get extra help.
GrimmaTheNome - sorry, I dont understand your post.

How on earth is it cheating if she was struggling in a BASIC subject due to a lack of good teaching?

The teacher in question has subsequently been asked to leave by the headteacher, so it's not as if it was for nothing.

She wasn't given the answers, she wasn't given insider information, she just had extra one on one time that she needed to have things explained to her to help her PASS the subject.

If a teacher is not doing their job correctly, I see no reason why anyone should be prevented from having a tutor.

My niece's tutor did her tutoring for free - does that make a difference in your mind?

Parents who talk to their children are also creating an unfair advantage for their offspring as opposed to parents who don't talk to their kids. Maybe we should all stop talking to our kids! :o

Brilliant idea. DH and I between us can cover most academic school subjects. We can mvoe the goalposts for our children and the others will never be able to catch up.

Are you serious OP?

So, do we all have to drive the same make and age of car, so no-one has better? Do we all have to earn the same salary? Should we all have exactly the same value house and same-priced holidays? Buy identical food?

I understand that there are a lot of less well-off parents out there who want to have good things for their DC's but can't afford it, however to suggest what you are proposing is preposterous.

You say "pushy, middle class", like there is something wrong with wanting the best for your DC's? Or do you think everyone should be stuck at the lowest common denominator?

I have never needed to use a private tutor but my daughter was finding AS biology difficult so she asked if she could have a tutor for a while. I am definitely not a pushy parent.

do you mean parents who want their children to pass an entrance exam?

I'm sory, please explain again why a child learning is cheating? Is the tutor providing the answers to tests?

If a parent has the intelligence and time to tutor her own child is that also teaching?

I am embarassingly bad at math, if dd has problems in the future (as I once did) should she just be ignored and left behind (like I was)? I certainly won't be able to help her. Hopefully I will hve the money to get her a tutor if she needs it. I think you are being a bitch tbh

'Maybe we should all stop talking to our kids!'

Could I twist that round somehow AllDirections so DD1 doesn't have to talk to me as much as she does?

She can't half go on

This isn't the right way to level the playing field.

Most private tutors are strong believers in education who enjoy seeing a child achieve what they were capable of along, but just couldn't get right at school. You know the tutors don't actually do the exams for the child, right?

Are children who go to top schools cheating?

Rubbish. Utter rubbish. I don't agree with private coaching for entrance exams into the Grammar system. Purely because if the child needs coaching they will not cope once there.

However, there is a real need for private tuition when your child is falling behind in a subject. DD1 has been tutored in maths in the past as she wasn't really grasping the subject. Two terms of tutoring and she was happy and confident and understood what she was doing.

Sometimes your child gets a crap teacher. They are around, whatever anyone says. And at times like that, private tutoring is needed.

What a load of tosh.

YABVU and ridiculous at the same time.

AgentZigzag, you can twist it anyway you like, I like you're idea better than mine lol.

What about resitting exams?

By your definition that'd be cheating too OP.

I don't know why I'm posting really, you're obviously taking the piss to set off the tinderbox that is the MN vipers

How on earth is it cheating to want your child to achieve higher?

The exam is still the same at the end of it. The exams are marked just the same.

What a silly post op if my child was struggling and we could afford I would pay for her to get the extra help. Most parents would.