Need to get an A, what’s your budget?

        According to most high school students, the world of tutoring is one that should be avoided at all costs, since students who pay for their grades don’t really deserve them.  With tutoring on an average costing $320 dollars per month for one subject, the majority of students do not have the opportunity of going to tutoring. At Irvington, many underprivileged students are enraged when they see their friends, who now go to tutoring, begin to excel in a class that they themselves continue to do poorly in because they have no extra help.  What are students who cannot afford the costs for tutoring supposed to do, and is this new method of excelling really fair? 

        That’s a good question, all right, but it’s not the question. The bigger issue is whether the students who can afford to go to tutoring are the ones to blame for this newly formed necessity of instruction outside of school in order to do well. The fact is that students wish to take certain classes, but they do not understand the material being taught in class. This is because, either they are not being taught enough and cannot comprehend the material. So, they have no other choice but to look for help.

        As some kids move ahead by using the tutoring world as an outlet, other are left behind to struggle on their own. American education cannot afford the systemic damage being done by the ever-apparent income inequality among students in the public school system nowadays. There is a burden in the American public school system of today. One in which budget cuts, large class sizes, and teacher quality affects an ever important learning process. That burden is inflicted not just on the students but on the very idea of public school teaching—the idea that there is an equality in the classroom and in opportunities.

        This burden can be clearly seen in Europe, and almost every other country around the world. Outside of America, tutoring has become a necessary part of school. An ordinary day to a European high school student would begin with normal public school, in which the student wastes 6 hours in class while unmotivated teachers test on material they expect children to already know. Then, from one to eight, students will have tutoring classes that make up for their earlier waste of time, and can cost about 2,000 dollars per year. This style of schooling is slowly but surely beginning to appear in American schools. 

            Public school students enrolled in tutoring are paying for a better understanding of the subject not for their grades. As students wait for a drastic reform in the current education system, what other option do they have?