3 ms·

I only got two paragraphs in before my THIS IS FICTION alarm bells were too loud to ignore.

cafard 5y ago
Just over ten years ago, the NY Times had an article about a disappointed parent suing a tutoring company. I forget what her beef was, but she had paid out $35 thousand in the course of a year.
- handrous 5y ago
  That seems entirely plausible. That's in the same territory as boarding school prices for one kid (some are more expensive, of course, but it's around the same price as that sort of thing), so clearly there exist people willing and able to pay that much for their kids' education. Hell, with a couple kids you can break that much per year at a cheap-end-of-mid-priced day school.
gumby 5y ago
I have seen this kind of thing directly. Kids in private school who take their homework to the “tutoring session” where the tutor basically does it for them. My own kid did tutoring for beer money while in school. I don’t think the article is fundamentally fictional, though clearly some of the retelling has been dressed up a bit.
lbriner 5y ago
Why is it fiction? People who are rich enough to pay an entire yacht crew are not going to worry about $50K a year for a tutor to try and make their lazy waste-of-space child at least have half a chance of creating their own success when they are older.
- watwut 5y ago
  If the kid is lazy waste of space and the tutor can make the difference, paying one just sounds like good parenting. Also, a lot of these kids are smart and hardworking and motivated. The money are an additional advantage and parents having resources to ensure they stay motivated and active is advantage too. But, the assumption that they are all dumb or lazy is wrong.
- trentnix 5y ago
  Of course rich people pay for tutors. Of course some rich people have stupid expectations. But the whole setup reads like it's the start of a Chuck Palahniuk novel and that makes me certain the author is full of s**.
fargus_dorsalby 5y ago
I’ve had very similar experiences, I don’t think this felt exaggerated at all

Just over ten years ago, the NY Times had an article about a disappointed parent suing a tutoring company. I forget what her beef was, but she had paid out $35 thousand in the course of a year.

handrous 5y ago
That seems entirely plausible. That's in the same territory as boarding school prices for one kid (some are more expensive, of course, but it's around the same price as that sort of thing), so clearly there exist people willing and able to pay that much for their kids' education. Hell, with a couple kids you can break that much per year at a cheap-end-of-mid-priced day school.

gumby 5y ago

I have seen this kind of thing directly. Kids in private school who take their homework to the “tutoring session” where the tutor basically does it for them. My own kid did tutoring for beer money while in school. I don’t think the article is fundamentally fictional, though clearly some of the retelling has been dressed up a bit.

lbriner 5y ago

Why is it fiction? People who are rich enough to pay an entire yacht crew are not going to worry about $50K a year for a tutor to try and make their lazy waste-of-space child at least have half a chance of creating their own success when they are older.

watwut 5y ago
If the kid is lazy waste of space and the tutor can make the difference, paying one just sounds like good parenting. Also, a lot of these kids are smart and hardworking and motivated. The money are an additional advantage and parents having resources to ensure they stay motivated and active is advantage too. But, the assumption that they are all dumb or lazy is wrong.
trentnix 5y ago
Of course rich people pay for tutors. Of course some rich people have stupid expectations. But the whole setup reads like it's the start of a Chuck Palahniuk novel and that makes me certain the author is full of s**.

fargus_dorsalby 5y ago

I’ve had very similar experiences, I don’t think this felt exaggerated at all