My encounter with another tutor at Popular Bookstore

I was at Popular yesterday to purchase some books for the new classes which are going to start.

Armed with my shopping list, I darted around Popular with ease, taking the books I needed and placing them in a basket on the floor near the cashier (with my maid tending to it).

Then, an old gentleman saw my pile of books and asked my maid,"Wow! So many books? You have many children?"

My maid simply smiled and looked at me for help. I quickly went over and started a polite conversation with this curious old man. He was browsing some P2 Maths assessment books.

Me: I'm a tutor, these are for my students.
Him: Why don't you wait till end of the month when they will have 20% discount?
Me: My classes are starting soon, I can't afford to wait.
Him: Oh, you have many students?
Me: I teach a few group classes, so it adds up to quite a number of them.
Him: Recently the syllabus is very tough, ya? [Proceeds to show me a heuristic question from a P2 Maths books. It is actually a simple number bond question.]
Me: Actually, these are very common questions. Most of my P2 students are able to handle such questions.
Him: So can you tell me how to solve this question? Explain to me. [In a rather demanding tone.]
Me: [Pointing with my finger at the question.] This and this makes this. You need to add these two numbers to get this answer.
Him: Wow! That is how to solve it? And your students can do it? Means they must be very smart. You only teach students from top schools?
Me: No, I have students coming from all sorts of schools.
Him: You mean you don't screen and choose students? You take whoever that comes to you?
Me: Yes, am I suppose to reject students? I thought the purpose of tutoring is to help students?
Him: I thought that since you students are so smart to solve this type of questions, they should be very smart and you accepted the students selectively.
Me: Oh, I don't do that. Anyway, nice chatting with you. I need to go off as my husband is waiting at the carpark.
Him: [Seems to ignore what I just said.] Since you are a tutor too, you should consider these books. Very good. I've been using them for 10 over years. [Points to Problem Solving Processes - which was only released late last year and some of Andrew Er's books - which were only published in 2004.]
Me: Oh, I've tried some of these [referring to Andrew Er's books], it's not very suitable as it does not go topic by topic and students can't finish the books just before exams.
Him: Is it? I've been using these to teach for 10 over years! No problems!
Me: Maybe it's suitable for individual tuition, but not for me.
Him: [Continues to babble on...]
Me: So sorry, sir. I really need to go. Nice chatting with you.

BTW, many parents overheard our conversation and came to ask for namecard from me. Sad to say, I don't carry namecards with me but I gave them my contact number.




Several question came to my mind:
1. This man is really old. He looks like he is in his 70s. I'm not saying that old people can't be tutors, but based on what he said, it seems like he does not know the current syllabus well. And, he could not even solve the number bond question (he was staring at it for very long before he noticed my pile of books). I'm just appalled at how these people can call themselves tutors! No wonder parents are so antsy about hiring tutors because they won't know if they are getting someone who is unable to even solve P2 number bond questions!

2. Reminds me of another tutor who was canvassing for students at an online forum. He actually questioned me on my mathematical workings and explanation (which I helped another mummy with). And he could not understand the model method (it was a P3 question). Then, in another thread which another parent was asking for help on a maths question, he posted that if anyone needed help with maths questions, can email to him. However, in the third related thread, he actually asked me to email him because he got some maths questions for me to solve. So, what is he trying to do? He ask parents to email him questions, then he email them to me for answers, and reply the parents with my answers which he will claim is his? This is highly unprofessional! To make use of others to gain the trust of parents so that they will hire him as their kid's tutor! And when I exposed him, he simply disappeared from the forum.

No wonder parents now are so anxious about tutors. In the past, I've never encountered parents who wanted to meet me before deciding if they wanted trial lessons. When I first encountered it this year, I was quite taken aback. Now, I start to understand how these parents feel (especially after a few unprofessional tutors who came to teach my boy Chinese too).

Now, I welcome parents to come down for a chat. However, due to my busy schedule, time seems like it's never enough. I would love to speak to parents in detail about their child's weaknesses and what parents can do at home to help boost their child's learning. Hopefully, when 2011 starts, I will have more time with the new schedule. :D