Tution My Confusion

When my daughter entered 11th grade and chose science, the pressure was immense—not on her, but on me. How would she manage these difficult subjects? I had to find the best tuition for physics, chemistry, and math.

Most of my daughter’s classmates attended expensive coaching sessions for each subject. I explored various options and found the best among them, but the fees were over 2 lakhs, with 50 students in a class. It felt like I was paying for gold and diamonds, not education.

People often say a child’s education is worth more than gold, which is true—if you have the money. I ended up enrolling her in a more reasonably priced tuition.

A month later, I noticed she wasn’t attending her classes. The tuition teachers complained, and I wondered how to motivate a teenager. Despite my constant reminders, she ignored them. When nothing worked, I resorted to emotional appeal. I told her, “I worked so hard to arrange tuition money and begged teachers for a discount. Now you’re wasting both the money and my efforts.”

She replied, “They’re not good enough. I can learn better on my own. It’s quite easy.”

I was frustrated, but I saw her studying by herself. She turned to free YouTube coaching channels when she needed help. In her finals, she exceeded my expectations.

I asked, “How did that happen?”

She said, “You taught me until 7th grade. Now, I can handle the difficult stuff myself.”

A year later, when Vrinda entered 12th grade, she asked for tuition again.

I said, “Like last year, you can do it all by yourself.”

She insisted, “11th was easy. 12th is different and tougher. I need coaching.”

But I was confident she could manage. I made an excuse, saying, “I don’t have money and won’t borrow from anyone.”

A month later, she struggled with the first few chemistry chapters and started crying, saying, “I can’t understand anything. It’s too hard.”

After criticizing me for two hours, she realized she had no other choice. I felt weak and considered arranging tuition but decided to wait. Fortunately, she didn’t bring up the topic again and focused on her studies.

Six months later, she scored the highest in chemistry.

She admitted, “It was very difficult at first, and I thought coaching would give me immediate relief, a kind of spoon-feeding. But when I tried myself, I got it. Now, I feel confident and proud.”

I felt happy. Despite my poor academic background, I taught her until middle school, learning the subjects myself, especially math. Many times, it was challenging. After spending an hour on a single math concept, she would say, “I don’t understand anything.”

I took it as a challenge. If she couldn’t understand, perhaps I didn’t grasp it well enough. I worked on it for two hours and always found a better, often funny, way to explain it to her.

She was too young to acknowledge it then, but I felt good giving my 100%.