I read the article about tutoring, and it doesn't really sound all that different from what any academically minded parent would do with their kid: teach them things.
I don't know, though. When teaching happens at home, it's usually spontaneous, in short bursts, and corresponding to something real - like counting cookies as you eat them, or spelling out the letters on a sign together, or practicing writing your name to sign a drawing. That seems qualitatively different to me than sending your kid to a tutoring center to study for an hour, using computers or worksheets.
the ideas and activities are not any more advanced than most middle class kids are expected to master.
I think the expectation that children should be taught to read at three or four is new, and so is the expectation that they'll be doing addition and subtraction at that age. I mean, I've known kids who did those things on their own - I was one of them - but I think the baseline expectation used to be that your learned to read in first grade.
no subject
I don't know, though. When teaching happens at home, it's usually spontaneous, in short bursts, and corresponding to something real - like counting cookies as you eat them, or spelling out the letters on a sign together, or practicing writing your name to sign a drawing. That seems qualitatively different to me than sending your kid to a tutoring center to study for an hour, using computers or worksheets.
the ideas and activities are not any more advanced than most middle class kids are expected to master.
I think the expectation that children should be taught to read at three or four is new, and so is the expectation that they'll be doing addition and subtraction at that age. I mean, I've known kids who did those things on their own - I was one of them - but I think the baseline expectation used to be that your learned to read in first grade.