Another alternative to public school.

Upper-middle-class families, dissatisfied with K-12 schools, are signing up for the instruction as well.

Jean-Francois Gagnon and his wife, Genevieve, watched their two teenage children grind through six hours of remote learning every day in spring 2021, as the pandemic rolled into its second year.

The classes were inefficient. The schedule was inflexible. The children weren’t engaged.

So while the family traveled for work between California and Europe, they hired private tutors at a cost of roughly $15,000 a month to teach each child individually. The children loved it, their parents said.

“We don’t hear them say they aren’t interested in learning anymore,” Mr. Gagnon said.



During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, more wealthy families hired personal tutors instead of enrolling their children in school, largely to avoid the worst of remote learning.

Now, as the pandemic disruptions wane, many of these families aren’t going back, opting instead to stick with personalized curricula and private instruction. The model, once limited to the very wealthy, is being adopted by families in the upper middle class, according to private-tutor placement companies and their clients.

Many children have endured months of stalled academic progress as a result of the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Last week national fourth-grade reading and math scores revealed the worst decline in decades, one that some educators said could hobble a generation of children.

That stalled progress, combined with teacher shortages, school-board political divisions and classroom disruptions, has for many fueled a flight out of K-12 schools to home schooling and private schools.

Adam Caller, who founded Tutors International in Oxford, England, 23 years ago, said too few schools impart the skills necessary to succeed in a rapidly evolving society, and his clients want a more forward thinking approach to prepare their children to be leaders.


A pupil works online with a Pacific Preparatory tutor, in images provided by the 20-year-old school based in San Francisco.
PHOTO: PACIFIC PREPARATORY
Traditionally, he said, most of his clients have had a net worth north of $100 million, and tutors often traveled between homes with families, as part of their entourage. He said one such client is discussing hiring a tutor to drive down the coast of South America in a recreational vehicle and teach lessons to the children in different ports as the family sails down the coast in their yacht. The cost for the tutor’s services would be about $400,000.

During the pandemic, Mr. Caller said his client base doubled as he started fielding more calls from a class of people who might have a second home but no yacht.

“There are more families who are wealthy but not moguls; surgeons, venture capitalists and CEOs who founded a business and then sold it for $5 [million] or $10 million,” Mr. Caller said. “They have money, and they want to travel with the children, and this is what they’re willing to spend it on.”

Pacific Preparatory, a 20-year-old San Francisco-based school that advertises itself as offering “Exceptional Individualized Education,” has grown to about 100 students from 20 in 2019. The school sends teachers to the homes of students or works with them online to build individualized curricula. Tuition tops out at roughly $90,000. Teachers work at a student’s pace and on a student’s schedule.

The pandemic presented a logistical nightmare, especially for dual-income families. Initially parents were worried about contracting Covid-19, and then they were flustered by remote learning and changing hybrid schedules, said Staci Stutsman, operations director at Pacific Preparatory.

“The one-on-one model gave them an option, and now they don’t want to lose it,” said Dr. Stutsman.



Families who enroll their children full time at Pacific Preparatory generally have household annual incomes of more than $350,000, Dr. Stutsman said. Among the school’s clients was Carolina Musselman. Last year she was a high-school senior in Louisville, Ky., who was dissatisfied with the remote classes she took during junior year at her private high school.

Ms. Musselman worked online with several different Pacific Prep tutors for 12 hours a week. She used the time she wasn’t in school to babysit, work out and rock-climb.

Her tutors lived in Ecuador, Cuba and California. She said her math teacher covered her Algebra 2 syllabus so quickly that by February they started on the math curriculum she is now covering as a freshman at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.

“It was pretty intense,” Ms. Musselman said. “When you go to class, you have to be ready to talk. At my high school, I was ready to sit in the back of the class and not say anything.”

Her mother, Layla George, runs a nonprofit organization in Louisville. Her father is an investor and owns a farm. They paid $45,000 to Pacific Prep for the tutoring, about twice the cost for most of the region’s private high schools.

“Every parent I know is trying to get their child the best education they can—that’s universal,” Ms. George said. “The families that were able got their kids help, and they advanced, and everyone else fell behind.”

Americans are showing less faith in public schools. This year 42% of Americans said they are satisfied with the quality of K-12 schools in the U.S., the lowest level since 2000, and a decline from 51% in 2019, according to a Gallup poll released recently.


Tiffany Sorya founded Novel Education Group, which places private tutors with well-to-do families, growing through word of mouth.
PHOTO: NOVEL EDUCATION GROUP
Students who remain in the public system are increasingly more likely to be poor. In the two decades leading up to the pandemic, the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch climbed to 52% from 38%, according to the federal government.

In Los Angeles, Tiffany Sorya founded Novel Education Group in 2014, five years after she graduated from college. The company places private tutors with well-to-do families. She built a clientele in the entertainment industry, through word of mouth.

Covid-19 dispersed her clients, many of whom rode out the pandemic away from Los Angeles. As they socialized with other families whose children were taking remote classes through public or private schools, she said her phone started ringing and within a few months business doubled.

Clients with tutors through her agency generally pay between $65,000 and $100,000 a year.

“A lot of these kids are doing private lessons in art or they’re athletes and school is getting in the way of them doing something they are really passionate about,” Ms. Sorya said.

The Gagnons engaged her company last year after they became dissatisfied with the remote-learning classes their kids were taking as part of a private school. They found the company through an internet search. It solved the problem of having to work around the fixed schedule of a school as the family travels between time zones for work.

The children are in class online three or four hours a day, and the teachers have designed the courses around their interests, which include photography and videogame design.

Mr. Gagnon said both his children will stick with private tutors through graduation.

“I don’t see us ever going back to a regular school,” he said.

Write to Douglas Belkin at doug.belkin@wsj.com


LINK:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/w...02?mod=hp_listb_pos3

quote:

The model, once limited to the very wealthy, is being adopted by families in the upper middle class, according to private-tutor placement companies and their clients

Uh huh. I'd love to see their definition of "upper middle class". The commonly accepted entry point for "upper middle class" is $100,000 in annual household income, topping out at around $300,000 in annual household income.

Therefore, I don't see how many "upper middle class" families could afford the reported $15,000 per month in private tutoring costs, which works out to $135,000 per year if we assume the standard 9 months of schooling.

That would require half or more of their annual income, even for those near the top end of the "upper middle class" spectrum.

This smacks of fake humbleness: "Oh, my dear, I'm not rich, I'm just "upper middle class"... Now, we're off to take my superyacht on a trek around the world with our entourage of maids, butlers, crewmembers, tutors, and private chefs."

quote:

Last week national fourth-grade reading and math scores revealed the worst decline in decades, one that some educators said could hobble a generation of children.

That stalled progress, combined with teacher shortages, school-board political divisions and classroom disruptions, has for many fueled a flight out of K-12 schools to home schooling and private schools.

Perhaps most of the decline is scores are due to the better students opting out of k-12 public schools and moving to private or home based education.

You remove the cream of the crop and the curve will shift.

So, its good to be rich.... who knew?

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
So, its good to be rich.... who knew?

As my Dad always told me, money isn't good for much. You can't eat it, you can't wear it and you can't smoke it.

But, he said, it represents freedom. Freedom to go where you please when you please and do what you please.

He was right.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
As my Dad always told me, money isn't good for much. You can't eat it, you can't wear it and you can't smoke it.

You can, in fact, do all three with dollar bills.

It's not exactly tasty or nutritious, but could be chewed and swallowed with no real ill effects.

It's not especially durable or comfortable, but it is cloth (made from a cotton/linen blend), so it could in theory be sewn together into any garment you choose.

And it's flammable, so therefore could be smoked.

quote:

The model, once limited to the very wealthy, is being adopted by families in the upper middle class, according to private-tutor placement companies and their clients

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I guess they mean those not yet owning a yacht. They did mention surgeons though, and they are not at the top of earnings for physicians. These days it is probably Hospital administrators.

I have seen some working class parents afford these kinds of things with judicious saving.

This "remote" learning SHIT was the BIGGEST scam ever forced upon the children of this country by the public school system and it's going to be an ongoing disaster.

A good friend of my wife's had a child who graduated last year from HS and she told us all that the so-called "teachers" would MAYBE put in an entire hour of live facetime with them PER WEEK, otherwise they just assigned them homework and work on their own.

So these fucking teachers (many who STILL don't want to come back to work) skated for 2 years with doing minimal work and screwed these kids. I can tell you this girl was headed off to college in VA a few weeks ago...she ain't ready for college.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree. Remote learning is not learning. I could not pay attention for long unless the Professor was a one man comedy act. I taught at the college level and it was always a struggle to keep the students engaged. Luckily I am self employed and did not have to have Zoom meetings and the like. I would assume that College students learned very little remotely.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

The model, once limited to the very wealthy, is being adopted by families in the upper middle class, according to private-tutor placement companies and their clients

Uh huh. I'd love to see their definition of "upper middle class". The commonly accepted entry point for "upper middle class" is $100,000 in annual household income, topping out at around $300,000 in annual household income.

Therefore, I don't see how many "upper middle class" families could afford the reported $15,000 per month in private tutoring costs, which works out to $135,000 per year if we assume the standard 9 months of schooling.

That would require half or more of their annual income, even for those near the top end of the "upper middle class" spectrum.

This smacks of fake humbleness: "Oh, my dear, I'm not rich, I'm just "upper middle class"... Now, we're off to take my superyacht on a trek around the world with our entourage of maids, butlers, crewmembers, tutors, and private chefs."

I was thinking the same thing. $135,000 in after tax dollars is close to $225,000 in pre-tax earnings. Anyone who has that much discretionary income is way beyond "upper middle class."

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
As my Dad always told me, money isn't good for much. You can't eat it, you can't wear it and you can't smoke it.

You can, in fact, do all three with dollar bills.

It's not exactly tasty or nutritious, but could be chewed and swallowed with no real ill effects.

It's not especially durable or comfortable, but it is cloth (made from a cotton/linen blend), so it could in theory be sewn together into any garment you choose.

And it's flammable, so therefore could be smoked.

Picky, picky.

But it does represent freedom.

Tutors do not have to cost nearly that much.

It costs a teacher’s salary, plus whatever you want to fund for the kids. Lots of retired teachers who like the idea of teaching well-behaved bright kids, in a small environment.

Maybe not even a full salary. My “heirs” are all well-over grade level, between their stay at home mom, and online tutors.

The oldest (8) does maybe 3 hours a day with tutors? Leaves lots of time for dance, music, art, gardening, etc.

Many parents have proven home schooling to be effective and even advantageous.