When I am struggling on a topic or confusingly reading my
textbook or having any trouble at all in a class, I will go in for help. I do
not need to be told when to get help and I certainly do not need a mandated
quota to meet each quarter. Tutorials, mandatory lunch help sessions, are
ridiculous. Students, especially high school student should not have to be told
when to ask for help. High school students need to be able to accept
responsibility and judge for themselves when they need extra help from a
teacher.
I understand that tutorials were initially created for the purpose
of decreasing the student failure rate by allowing a time for students to have the
chance to talk to their teachers and get some help. However, because they are
mandatory it serves to be a chore rather than an opportunity. Yes, there are
some people who are too lazy to go and talk to a teacher themselves or frankly
do not care enough, but if that is the case, then even if they are in the
tutorial they will not actually put any effort in. Many students just go to
tutorials for the credit and do not actually utilize the time and either
socialize or just sit and wait for the bell to release them. There are even
some students, who sign their name in the tutorial book and then slip away
unnoticed before the bell has actually rung. How is this "benefiting"
the students? For the students that go in because they actually need help, it
is hard for them to focus with those just sitting around socializing. The
tutorial is now actually inhibiting these students from studying, because they are distracted by
the students who are being loud and not actually working on anything because
they are only at tutorial for the credit.
Not only do mandatory tutorial sessions stress students, but
they also overwhelm teachers. Some students wait until the last minute to
attend their tutorials. When this happens, classrooms are packed with students,
and teachers are overwhelmed trying to accommodate all of them. The teachers
have to keep track of the students, as well as make sure they are actually
working on something. When a student just goes to tutorial to receive credit
and then proceeds to do nothing, it wastes not only the student's time but the
teacher's time as well. A teacher's time is precious, they could be using this
time to grade papers or plan lessons. It is not fair to the teacher to have their
time wasted with a swarm of students showing up on the last tutorial day available
to make sure they get credit.
Tutorials are not wrong, but forcing students to go to them
is. A teacher should be available to students who actually need help and are
willing to ask for it; however most people do not like to do things when they
are forced. Leave the decision of going into class to ask for help up to the
students. One thing is for sure, if I need help I will take it upon myself to
ask for it.
Work Cited:
Hallead, Missy. "Hudson's Bay High School - Tutorial Program." Hudson Bay. Vancouver Public School, 23 May 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
"Jackson Finds Smart Lunch Program a Smart Move." GManet. Georgia Municipal Association, 6 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
"SMART Lunch - Adhscurriculum and Instruction." Athens Drive. A Wake Stem School, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
I totally agree with your view that tutorials should not be mandatory. As a student who goes to a LOT of tutorials, I hate to see students strolling in just to get a tutorial "over with," and they end up simply sitting at a desk eating lunch without doing any work. I like how you explained the benefits not dealing with students, but with teachers as well. I'm sure Ms. Hart would agree that many students waste time in tutorials, not to mention wait until the last minute. The choice of whether or not students need to visit tutorials should be entirely up to the individual.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more on this. This being my first year at Green Hope, I was completely baffled by the tutorials in general. At my old school, when we needed help the teacher would arrange to help us. It is a teacher's duty to help students be as successful as possible, with or without tutorials. They only waste both the student and teacher's time.
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