Attention all desperate students who struggle with math: Title Five funding might end, and Cypress College may no longer offer one-on-one math tutoring in the learning resource center.
The Title Five funding is a grant given by the department of education. The learning resource center used some of the funds to provide one-on-one math tutoring to students. This funding may end soon and Cypress College is coming up with a possible alternative to one-on-one tutoring.
The alternative is group tutoring in the same level instead of one-on-one tutoring.
One-on-one tutor’s splitting their time between students in the same math level won’t work. Some students must have concepts learned in class explained to them and a tutor will not have time to fully explain a concept and help other students at the same time.
As a DSPS student I began my math journey in math 10 and have clawed my way up to math 40. I spend at least 15 hours a week in the math learning center and two hours with one-on-one tutors and I am barely surviving.
If one-on-one tutoring ends I fear my math grade will drop and prevent me from transferring to a university. Math doesn’t come easily to all students and taking this benefit away may cause students to fail.
Math 15 student Veronica Corral, a business administration major, depends one-on-one tutoring and feels she won’t do well getting tutored in a group setting.
Dean of Science Engineering Math Richard Fee declined to comment on the situation.
I hope the Science Engineering and Math department seriously considers the ramifications of what can happen if they choose to use group tutoring versus one-on-one tutoring.
Math is challenging for a lot of students and not giving them the necessary individualized attention needed can cause students to fail. Most students do not attend one-on-one tutoring unless it is absolutely necessary.
Some may argue that students make appointment for a one-on-one tutor and don’t show up and waste the money paid to the one-on-one tutoring waiting for the student.
A way to correct the problem is to suspend students one-on-one tutoring benefits if they consistently miss appointments. Not all students should be penalized for the poor actions of others.
Others make a strong argument about paying for outside tutoring. The problem with paying for outside tutoring is some students can’t financially afford to pay for tutor’s services.
The best way to climb out of poverty is through education and taking one on one tutoring away will impact the lives of many students.
I hope the decision makers at Cypress College consider the welfare of math students. Math is a great puzzle and sometimes people need extra help unlocking it.
“Math has a lot of negative stereotypes, but it can actually be fun and incredibly empowering,” Danica McKellar, author of Kiss My Math.
