last tuition

After I entered university, I wanted to be as much as possible, financially independent. So I took up private tuition.

I started tutoring this kid at the end of his secondary 2. He is definitely not an easy kid to tutor. First, his math fundamentals were weak. His concepts were wrong. So basically I had to start everything all over again from scratch. However, this was not the toughest part. He rarely completed my homework and would give 1001 excuses for not doing it. He was one restless kid who couldn’t concentrate for one full 1.5 hour.

Yesterday was my last lesson with him. And I finally truly understand the meaning of “rewarding” when you asked a passionate teacher “why teaching”? A simple and short SMS to thank you for my effort, time, sweat and tears for the past years tutoring him means a lot to me. The smile on his face when he knew his answers for the big O paper were correct was comforting. I admit the tutoring process is torturous on some days, but on certain working days, I was looking forward to it after a long and meaningless day at work.

So to all out there, stop your work for a second and tell someone how much you appreciate his/her work. It takes seconds to do it, but it means the whole world to them.