Caution! Math Tutor Articles Can Be hazardous To Your Wallet And To Mathematics Knowledge
Have you noticed lately a marked increase on the internet in the whole of material being written about math tutoring and/or exact math subjects (like Geometry or Statistics) that never admittedly address the title or even the subject, but all the time direct you to a tutoring website? Yes? Well, so have I, and I am getting very frustrated. I need your help to put a stop to this nonsense, or at least slow the negative impact this is having on mathematics knowledge for our young people--our leaders of tomorrow.
Caution! Math Tutor Articles Can Be hazardous To Your Wallet And To Mathematics Knowledge
As a retired math trainer who has made improving mathematics education a personal goal, I take very seriously the accuracy and quality of the mathematical information presented on the internet. It is appalling just how much garbage is "out there." Both parents and students are searching for factual, helpful information. They Should be able to find it everywhere, without having to weed through articles masquerading as fact that admittedly are only for the purpose of directing "suckers" to a website.
Please understand that I am not criticizing legitimate articles about tutoring--I have written a combine myself. However, a good report about tutoring should give you information about what characteristics to be seeing for in a hidden tutor or the qualities that make one tutor site good than another.
Finding a good math-tutor-match for your child, or even yourself, is not easy. There are many citizen with math knowledge who do not have the critical teaching skills to help a man who is confused and in need of help. Even more of a concern is the fact that effective tutoring takes a very extra set of skills that not all math teachers possess.
I intuit that economic realities are having something to do with what is happening. With school cutbacks, many teachers are being displaced. When math teachers don't have jobs, they often turn to tutoring because teaching is what they know best. Tutoring locally can get off to a slow start because it takes quite a long time to build a solid, clear reputation. Many displaced teachers turn to online tutoring as a quicker way to get students. However, the same economic hardships make it difficult for many parents to afford a tutor. This is causing tutor websites to have financial problems as well.
Tutor websites, like any other business, try to find ways to increase business. One tactic many websites--not just math tutoring websites--use to increase company is to hire citizen to swiftly write many articles that should drive traffic (people) to the website and have these hired "writers" submit these articles all over the internet. If an report is an honest consulation of the merits of the website, this tactic is perfectly acceptable.
Ethical issues arise when: (1) the citizen hired know little or nothing about the topic and/or are poor writers, and (2) the hired writers (or website owners) are not honest about the real purpose of the articles. This causes articles with incorrect information to be passed off as spoton when, in fact, the only purpose of the report is to push the website.
If a company is just trying to be successful, should you care about the tactic used? Absolutely! With respect to mathematics (and every other educational topic), articles with inaccurate information can admittedly be damaging for the trainee who is already struggling with the topic. They are unable to identify that the information is false--which is exactly why these "authors" feel safe. They believe no one will observation the misinformation. Hiring an online tutor can be even more hazardous since you have no way of knowing if the tutor has the critical skills, and it may take several sessions and an assault on your wallet to find out you just poured your money down the drain.
There Are ways to identify these sleazy articles. You are reading a sleazy report If:
1) The report title is not about tutoring, but the report mentions tutoring frequently.
2) The report contains incorrect information. Since this is often difficult for the non-math-loving man to spot, these sleazy citizen assume readers will not notice. They also count on other authors either not reading these articles and/or not reporting them if they do read the articles.
3) The report never addresses what is in the title or only includes good information in one or two paragraphs, leaving the remainder of the report to tell you to hire a math tutor. For example: I recently read an report that purported to include the rules of logic. I read the report 3 times seeing for those rules of logic. They plainly weren't to be found; but half of the report dealt with getting a tutor.
Other than Not going to the site being pushed on you, is there anyone else you can do? Yes!
First: You need to report the author and/or report to the report website. Respectable report sites have a "Report this author" or "Report this article" button--usually somewhere below the report or off to the side. You may have to hunt, but use these buttons!
Second: If a site allows you to send a annotation directly to the author, Do So. With enough personal complaints, the "author" might stop or at least switch back to a less harmful topic. (A few months ago I found many of my articles being stolen by the same "author." You can be sure I both reported this man to each website and sent the man a "nasty-gram" every opening I got. Do I believe this man ever got them? Not really, but it made me feel good to have sent them.)
Third: If the site includes author names beside report titles, like on a home page, refuse to read any more of this person's articles--no matter the category. If the site does not include names, encourage them to do so.
Fourth: Spread the word about this writer and tutor website so others are not caught in the trap.
If math education in this country is to improve, we must Eliminate The Sleaze. I need your help to do this.
Please remember that Most authors in the math category, admittedly in all educational categories, are working very hard to contribute spoton information in well-explained, well-written articles. We need your support with your continued reading of our articles and spreading clear words about us while at the same time needing your help to take off those "others."
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