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Tuition: One family perspectivesby John F. Masare The other day, I found myself in a "low density" area, discussing a rather sore topic with my hostess. It wasn’t the rising crime rate, servants, or the currency exchange. It was the continuously, for her vexing problem of tuition. I’ve always been a bit ambivalent about the mushrooming numbers of tuition classes being offered in our fair city. They seem to be running neck and neck with the Internet cafes as popular new business ventures. I’m ambivalent because in my days tuition classes were few and far between. There were text books, the library and notes. The rest was up to you. Some of us had elder brothers or sisters who were willing to sit with us and slog through algebraic equations and the pros and cons of the once vaunted concept of manifest destiny. Such siblings, it goes without saying, were also few and far between. Curiously, the head of the house, a self made and very wealthy man, was not exactly enthusiastic with regards to tuition. To put it bluntly, he would not finance these lessons even though he thought nothing of buying his kids 200,000/= shoes or spending more for the latest mobile phone. What was going on here? My hostess felt, rather strongly that her husband had got his priorities wrong. I found myself in a dilemma. Let me hasten to write that I’m not against tuition as such. Certainly, there are students who require special attention which isn’t always available in our increasingly crowded class rooms. Again, students will need extra lessons because of a natural antipathy towards certain subjects. They may be wrestling with a new, curriculum or even instruction in a foreign language. There are many reasons as to why a student would need, and should be provided with tuition. But where does one draw the line? At what point does a pupil, and his or her parents, stop blaming schools, teachers, even the system and turn to possible causes closer to home? As with nearly any issue, there are points in favour and against tuition. Let the debate begin.
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