tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/private-tuition-21822/articlesPrivate tuition – The Conversation2017-06-30T01:04:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/794752017-06-30T01:04:50Z2017-06-30T01:04:50ZFrom public good to personal pursuit: Historical roots of the student debt crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176124/original/file-20170628-31318-1k59itt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Has student debt changed because the purpose of education has changed?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Collier/Library of Congress, Ermolaev Alexander/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">promise of free college education</a> helped propel Bernie Sanders’ 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination to national prominence. It reverberated during the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4imizwSlA">confirmation hearings for Betsy DeVos</a> as Secretary of Education and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/04/pf/college/bernie-sanders-tuition-free-college/index.html">Sanders continues to push the issue</a>.</p>
<p>In conversations among politicians, college administrators, educators, parents and students, college affordability seems to be seen as a purely financial issue – it’s all about money.</p>
<p>My <a href="http://tadamtransnationalhistory.com">research</a> into the historical cost of college shows that the roots of the current <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/02/21/student-loan-debt-statistics-2017/#49139fbd5dab">student debt crisis</a> are neither economic nor financial in origin, but predominantly social. Tuition fees and student loans became an essential part of the equation only as Americans came to believe in an entirely different purpose for higher education.</p>
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<span class="caption">Students took to the streets to protest their debt burdens as part of Occupy Boston in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/campusgrotto/6235272007">CampusGrotto/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<h2>Cost of a college degree today</h2>
<p>For many students, graduation means debt. In 2012, more than <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/">44 million Americans</a> (14 percent of the total population) were still paying off student loans. And the average graduate in 2016 left college with more than $37,000 in student loan debt.</p>
<p>Student loan debt has become the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/business/dealbook/household-debt-united-states.html">second-largest type of personal debt</a> among Americans. Besides leading to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.027">depression and anxiety</a>, student loan debt slows down economic growth: It <a href="http://www.asa.org/site/assets/files/3793/life_delayed.pdf">prevents young Americans</a> from buying houses and cars and starting a family. Economist <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/alvaro-mezza.htm">Alvaro Mezza</a>, among others, has shown that there is a negative correlation between <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2016.010">increasing student loan debt and homeownership</a>.</p>
<p>The increase in student loan debt should come as no surprise given the increasing cost of college and the share that students are asked to shoulder. <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/statesupport">Decreasing state support for colleges</a> over the last two decades caused colleges to raise tuition fees significantly. From 1995 to 2015, tuition and fees at 310 national universities ranked by U.S. News <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/07/29/chart-see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities">rose considerably</a>, increasing by nearly 180 percent at private schools and over 225 percent at public schools.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, tuition has gone up. And students are paying that higher tuition with <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics">student loans</a>. These loans can influence students’ decisions about <a href="http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_graduates_earnings_growth_debt_repayment/">which majors to pick</a> and <a href="https://qz.com/680954/millennials-please-dont-waste-your-money-on-graduate-school/">whether to pursue graduate studies</a>.</p>
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<h2>Early higher education: a public good</h2>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Stanford University crew team, between 1910-1915. Stanford was founded on the principle of providing a free education. The university did not start charging students tuition until 1920.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2889448163">Library of Congress</a></span>
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<p>During the 19th century, college education in the United States was offered largely for free. Colleges trained students from middle-class backgrounds as high school teachers, ministers and community leaders who, after graduation, were to serve public needs.</p>
<p>This free tuition model had to do with perceptions about the role of higher education: College education was considered a public good. Students who received such an education would put it to use in the betterment of society. Everyone benefited when people chose to go to college. And because it was considered a public good, society was willing to pay for it – either by offering college education free of charge or by providing tuition scholarships to individual students.</p>
<p>Stanford University, which was founded on <a href="https://founders.stanford.edu/stanford-history">the premise of offering college education free of charge to California residents</a>, was an example of the former. Stanford did not charge tuition for almost three decades from its opening in 1891 until 1920.</p>
<p>Other colleges, such as the College of William and Mary, offered comprehensive tuition scholarship programs, which covered tuition in exchange for a pledge of the student to engage in some kind of service after graduation. Beginning in 1888, William and Mary provided <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=RBUSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA454">full tuition scholarships</a> to about one third of its students. In exchange, students receiving this scholarship pledged to teach for two years at a Virginia public school.</p>
<p>And even though the cost for educating students rose significantly in the second half of the 19th century, college administrators such as Harvard President <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance/history-presidency/charles-william-eliot">Charles W. Eliot</a> insisted that these costs should not be passed on to students. In a letter to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Adams_Jr.">Charles Francis Adams</a> dated June 9, 1904, Eliot wrote, “I want to have the College <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hxpvsfxjfMAC&pg=PA22">open equally</a> to men with much money, little money, or no money, provided they all have brains.”</p>
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<h2>College education becomes a private pursuit</h2>
<p>The perception of higher education changed dramatically around 1910. Private colleges began to attract more students from upper-class families – students who went to college for the social experience and not necessarily for learning.</p>
<p>This social and cultural change led to a fundamental shift in the defined purpose of a college education. What was once a public good designed to advance the welfare of society was becoming a private pursuit for self-aggrandizement. Young people entering college were no longer seen as doing so for the betterment of society, but rather as pursuing personal goals: in particular, enjoying the social setting of private colleges and obtaining a respected professional position upon graduation.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John D. Rockefeller was instrumental in bringing about the modern day reality of college tuition and student loans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_D._Rockefeller_1885.jpg">The Rockefeller Archive Center</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1927, John D. Rockefeller began campaigning for charging students the full cost it took to educate them. Further, he suggested that students could shoulder such costs through student loans. Rockefeller and like-minded donors (in particular, <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001974372">William E. Harmon</a>, the wealthy real estate magnate) were quite successful in their campaign. They convinced donors, educators and college administrators that students should pay for their own education because going to college was considered a deeply personal affair. Tuition – and student loans – thus became commonly accepted aspects of the economics of higher education.</p>
<p>The shift in attitude regarding college has also become commonly accepted. Altruistic notions about the advancement of society have generally been pushed aside in favor of the image of college as a vehicle for <a href="https://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/why-go-to-college-at-all/">individual enrichment</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Dartmouth College students carving canes on campus in the early 1920s. In the early 20th century, as more students from upper-class families began attending college for the social – rather than educational – experience, many colleges began the practice of charging tuition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dartmouth_College_campus_-_students_carving_canes_on_the_Senior_Fence.jpg">Council of the Alumni of Dartmouth College</a></span>
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<h2>A new social contract</h2>
<p>If the United States is looking for alternatives to what some would call a <a href="https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/collegeforallsummary/?inline=file">failing funding model for college affordability</a>, the solution may lie in looking further back than the current system, which has been in place since the 1930s.</p>
<p>In the 19th century, communities and the state would foot the bill for college tuition because students were contributing to society. They served the common good by teaching high school for a certain number of years or by taking leadership positions within local communities. A few marginal programs with similar missions (<a href="https://www.goarmy.com/rotc.html">ROTC</a> and <a href="https://www.teachforamerica.org/">Teach for America</a>) still exist today, but students participating in these programs are very much in the minority.</p>
<p>Instead, higher education today seems to be about what college can do for you. It’s not about what college students can do for society.</p>
<p>I believe that tuition-free education can only be realized if college education is again reframed as a public good. For this, students, communities, donors and politicians would have to enter into a new social contract that exchanges tuition-free education for public services.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students from UC Davis working on a environmental restoration project in 2013. Could a tuition-free, service-oriented approach be the future of higher education?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/goodlifegarden/10842803016">Jonathan Su/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Adam received funding from the Friends of the Princeton University Library, the Rockefeller Archive Center, the Washington University Libraries Department of Special Collections, and the State Historical Society of Iowa.</span></em></p>About 44 million Americans are still paying off student loan debt. But it didn’t always used to be this way. As the perceived purpose of a college education changed, so too did the way we pay for it.Thomas Adam, Professor of Transnational History, University of Texas at ArlingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/700572016-12-08T05:11:33Z2016-12-08T05:11:33ZBehind Singapore’s PISA rankings success – and why other countries may not want to join the race<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149152/original/image-20161208-18036-1cpq8eg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">60% of high school students in Singapore receive private tuition.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Singapore has topped the global <a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-results-dont-look-good-but-before-we-panic-lets-look-at-what-we-can-learn-from-the-latest-test-69470">Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings</a> in maths, science and reading, while countries including Australia, France and the UK sit in the bottom batch of OECD countries for achievement in these areas. </p>
<p>So what is Singapore doing right, and do other countries want to emulate it?</p>
<p>Clearly there are things to learn. Singapore has invested heavily in its education system. Its teachers are the best and brightest, and it has developed highly successful pedagogic approaches to science, maths, engineering and technology (STEM) teaching, such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-mastery-model-of-teaching-maths-25636">“Maths Mastery”</a> approach. </p>
<p>Culturally, Singaporeans have a strong commitment to educational achievement and there is a national focus on educational excellence. </p>
<p>Success in PISA rankings and other global league tables are an important part of the Singapore “brand”. Singaporean academic Christopher Gee calls this the “educational arms race”. Highly competitive schooling is the norm. </p>
<h2>Role of private tuition</h2>
<p>Public discussion in Australia around why we are not doing as well as the Singaporeans is largely focused on what goes on in that country’s schools.</p>
<p>Yet there is one thing missing from the reporting on Singapore’s success: the role of private tuition (private tutors and coaching colleges) and the part it plays in the overall success of students in the tiny city-state. Here are some startling figures:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>60% of high school, and 80% of primary school age students receive private tuition.</p></li>
<li><p>40% of pre-schoolers receive private tuition.</p></li>
<li><p>Pre-schoolers, on average, attend two hours private tuition per week, while
primary school aged children are attending, on average, at least three hours per week.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>That’s right. Eight out of ten primary school aged students in Singapore receive private tuition, either by way of private tuition or coaching colleges. </p>
<p>In 1992, that figure was around 30% for high school and 40% for primary school. The hours spent in tuition increase in late primary school, and middle-class children attend more hours than less well-off families. </p>
<p>The number of private coaching colleges has also grown exponentially in the last decade, with 850 registered centres in 2015, up from 700 in 2012. </p>
<h2>Impact on family income</h2>
<p>According to Singapore’s Household Expenditure Survey, private tuition in Singapore is a SGD$1.1 billion dollar industry (for a nation with a population of about 5.6 million) almost double the amount households spent in 2005 ($650 million). How does that look at the household level?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.blackbox.com.sg/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Blackbox-You-Know-Anot-Whitepaper-Private-Tuition.pdf">34% of those with children</a> currently in tuition spend between $500 (AU$471) and $1,000 (AU$943) per month per child, while 16% spend up to $2,000. </p>
<p>Considering the bottom 5th quintile of households <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/12-interesting-trends-about-singapore-household-income-and-spending">earn about $2,000 (AU$1,886)</a> per month – the next quintile around $5,000 (AU$4,716) – this is a very large chunk of the family budget. </p>
<p>Imagine a family with two or three children and we get a sense of the potential socioeconomic inequalities at work when educational success depends on private tuition. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.blackbox.com.sg/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Blackbox-You-Know-Anot-Whitepaper-Private-Tuition.pdf">Surveys show</a> that only 20% of those in the lowest two income brackets (a monthly income of less than $4,000) have a child in tuition.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the major tuition centre chains with outlets in shopping malls across Singapore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Tuition centres</h2>
<p>Tuition centres and coaching colleges range from more affordable neighbourhood and community based centres to large national “branded” coaching colleges with outlets in major shopping malls across the island. </p>
<p>The quality of tuition received is very much linked to how much one can afford to pay. It is big business. </p>
<p>The marketing strategies of the coaching colleges are very good at inducing anxiety in parents about fear of failure unless they are willing to pay to help their children get ahead.</p>
<p>Many parents complain that the schools “teach beyond the text”. That is, there is a perception that some teachers assume all the kids in the class are receiving tuition and thus teach above the curriculum level. Imagine the impact on those few children who are not receiving extra help.</p>
<h2>Why does this start in pre-school and primary?</h2>
<p>Singapore’s Primary School Leaving Exam (PSLE) is a seriously high-stakes exam that determines not just what high school a child will enter, but whether a child is streamed into a school that will fast track them to university. </p>
<p>Singaporeans do not have an <a href="https://www.moe.gov.sg/admissions/secondary-one-posting-exercise">automatic right</a> to enrol their children into the “local” high school.</p>
<p>All high schools <a href="http://www.epigami.sg/blog/parents-guide-secondary-one-s1-posting-exercise/">are selective</a> and the best schools have the pick of the PSLE crop.
Primary students are streamed into <a href="https://www.moe.gov.sg/education/education-system">four types of high school</a> : the top ones feed students direct to university via the A-Level exams, while the bottom “technical” and “normal stream” schools feed into the institutes of technical education and polytechnics, with a much more complex pathway towards university.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149156/original/image-20161208-18042-yax4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149156/original/image-20161208-18042-yax4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149156/original/image-20161208-18042-yax4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149156/original/image-20161208-18042-yax4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149156/original/image-20161208-18042-yax4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149156/original/image-20161208-18042-yax4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149156/original/image-20161208-18042-yax4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Advertising poster for one of Singapore’s leading chain of coaching colleges ‘Mindchamps’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The PSLE exam induces in 11 and 12 year olds the same level of anxiety seen in teenagers sitting the Higher School Certificate (HSC) or Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) in Australia. </p>
<p>Many middle-class parents believe the “race” starts early. </p>
<p>Parents are increasingly expected to have their pre-school aged child reading and writing, and with basic maths skills before they even enter school – and this is frequently achieved through private pre-schools and “enrichment” tuition. </p>
<p>While there is much to genuinely admire about Singapore’s educational success story, there is a question about the role of private enterprise (private coaching colleges) in shaping childhoods and stoking parental anxieties.</p>
<p>A potential concern when private tuition reaches saturation point is that schools come to assume the level of the “coached child” as the baseline for classroom teaching. </p>
<p>Many Singaporean parents I have spoken to bemoan the hyper-competitive environment that forces their children into hours of extra tuition, impacting on family time and relationships and reducing opportunities for childhood free play, developing friendships and simply getting some decent rest. Many feel they have no choice.</p>
<p>Singaporeans have a term for this pathology: “Kiasu”, which means “fear of falling behind or losing out”. Policymakers, and indeed reporting, needs to be cognisant of exactly what produces these outlying educational success stories. </p>
<p>This is not to argue Singapore’s success is entirely due to out of school coaching. Singaporean schooling excels on many fronts. However given the levels of private tuition, it needs to be seen as a key part of the mix.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70057/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Wise receives funding from The Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>The role of private tuition plays a part in the overall success of students in Singapore, with around 80% of primary-school children having at least three hours of private tuition a week.Amanda Wise, Associate professor, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/478082015-10-21T13:24:52Z2015-10-21T13:24:52ZGrowth of private tuition tells story of mounting pressure on parents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99088/original/image-20151020-32255-1gqmfap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The pressure is on not to fall behind early. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">5-year-old doing homework via matka_Wariatka/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our recent <a href="http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/563125/out-of-school-resbr1.pdf">research</a> found that 5% of seven-year-olds and 22% of 11-year-olds were receiving extra academic tuition outside of regular school hours. This suggests mounting <a href="http://www.ippr.org/publications/saturdays-for-success">pressure is being put on parents</a> to make sure their children “perform”, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01596306.2014.901489">comparable</a> to the performance pressures on schools to achieve good exam results. </p>
<p>We analysed data from the <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/page.aspx?&sitesectionid=851&sitesectiontitle=Welcome+to+the+Millennium+Cohort+Study">Millennium Cohort Study</a>, which is tracking 19,000 children born in 2000 through childhood (so far at age three, five, seven and 11) and plans to continue to adulthood. We looked at the children’s out of school activity, at how it changed during primary school and at patterns of activity for children from different backgrounds. The sample we looked at contained about 11,000 children from a white background and about 2,000 from an ethnic minority background – similar proportions to those in the wider population. </p>
<h2>Jump in private tuition</h2>
<p>Our findings on the extent of children having private tuition, presented at the British Education Research Association conference in September, seem to be quite a lot higher than previous estimates – although of course we are rarely comparing the same groups of children. A <a href="http://tuitionproject.ioe.ac.uk/report/doc/mapping_tutoring_bera.pdf">paper</a> by education researcher Judith Ireson found that of 3,000 children aged 10-18, 27% had a private tutor. It was only when she got to children aged 11 to 16-years-old living in London that the figures became as high as 40%. </p>
<p>What seems to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3236112/Ethnic-pupils-tuition-boost-half-11-year-olds-minority-backgrounds-receive-private-lessons.html#newcomment">shock</a> about our figures is that at such a young age, seven years old, 5% of children are having tutoring of some kind. And substantial proportions of children at age 11 are having tutoring, either for English, maths or school entrance. This varied for different ethnic groups, but over 40% of children identifying as Indian, Black, and other (which includes Chinese) had some kind of tutoring. </p>
<p>What we don’t yet have is data on how to interpret these figures. Over the past ten years we have seen the <a href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Education/documents/2007/11/23/livesreport.pdf">“scholarisation of childhood”</a>, through which parents face enormous pressure to use whatever resources available to <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/01443331011033346">them</a> – including tutoring – to make effective choices about their children’s schooling. </p>
<p>Sometimes schools and parents <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/01411920701243578/abstract">can struggle</a> to engage with each other. In this context, some parents give up and take their own action. This raises questions about the extent to which schools alone are responsible for their exam results – whether good or bad. But we do not know yet how effective private tuition is and how it might influence exam results.</p>
<h2>Tough choices</h2>
<p>Our research also found that extra tuition was most common among children whose mothers had a postgraduate degree – 30% – and least common among children whose mothers had no formal qualifications, though it was still relatively high at 19%. This suggests that parents with all types of educational backgrounds put an importance on education. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99079/original/image-20151020-32269-1vmt7u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99079/original/image-20151020-32269-1vmt7u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99079/original/image-20151020-32269-1vmt7u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99079/original/image-20151020-32269-1vmt7u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99079/original/image-20151020-32269-1vmt7u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99079/original/image-20151020-32269-1vmt7u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99079/original/image-20151020-32269-1vmt7u8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Not everyone is so lucky.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>Our finding that music lessons were taken by 43% of children whose mothers had a postgraduate degree, but only 6% of children whose mothers had no qualifications, could lead us to speculate that less educated parents are choosing extra tuition rather than music lessons. But this would be conjecture and more research is needed to interpret this.</p>
<p>There was other good news in our research: most children (78%) help with chores at home, and 53% several times a week. One in ten children aged 11
have commitments at home, caring for elderly, sick or disabled family members at least once a week. It is not easy to find comparative historical figures for the same age – but one in ten seems much higher than <a href="http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-and-blogs/press-release/report-reveals-impact-young-carers">other estimates</a>.</p>
<p>What’s clear overall is that there is unequal access to out of school activities. The expense of the school day <a href="https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/At%20What%20Cost%20Exposing%20the%20impact%20of%20poverty%20on%20school%20life%20-%20report%20summary.pdf">is shocking</a>. At Newcastle University we are also carrying out an evaluation of Child North East’s work in schools to <a href="http://www.povertyproofing.co.uk/project">poverty proof</a> the school day. </p>
<p>They have found that regular costs such as the cost of uniform, trips, homework, swimming lessons and badges, and pressure to collect charity money stigmatise children and parents. In one school, the holiday drama club costs £100 and so excludes a significant proportion of children. The cost of the end of school prom ranges from £250 to £1,000 per child – but students and parents feel pressured not to miss out. </p>
<p>The next phase of our research will be to look at whether there is an association between different after-school activities and educational attainment at age 11.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Todd receives funding from Economic and Social Research Council, Nuffield Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Foundation. She is a Trustee with West End Schools Trust and with Research in Practice. She is a Council member with the British Educational Research Association. </span></em></p>Five percent of seven-year-olds are having some kind of extra tuition. Why?Liz Todd, Professor of Educational Inclusion, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.