TUTORING TUTEES

The question of tutorial guidance probably receives more attention as an abstract issue than as a vital problem which every freshman sooner or later has to face squarely. One thinks of a tutor as a person who requires work at more or less regular intervals, but the student generally forgets that the tutorial session involves rather more than the mere giving and receiving of factual knowledge. Two minds must cooperate to the utmost if there is to be a real benefit to the student.

A good tutor will get the "feel" of his tutee and seek to stimulate his desire for knowledge, while not forgetting that he is dealing with an undergraduate rather than a would-be Ph.D. If the tutor and tutee do not make a good team the student's efficiency will greatly decrease.

That an instructor teaches well in class does not necessarily imply that he is a good tutor. In fact it is extraordinarily difficult to ascertain how good a tutor a man will be until one has to work with him. Here one faces the difficulty of having to change a tutor whom one likes but with whom one cannot work properly. The tendency will be to avoid the problem until the situation becomes critical. However, careful thought in the first place on the selection of a tutor greatly increases the probability of a correct choice The freshman should see that he gives definite thought to the subject of tutorial guidance. It's worth it.