Thomas Hodges - Mathematics Tutor
thodges@TutorIllinois.com 1 (312) 834-3581

The greatest wonder of our time is the availability of information and resources for learning – that we have the ability to cultivate a nation of academics. Those learned pioneers of ancient Greece who spent their days at the Library of Alexandria hadn’t near the ready access to knowledge as today’s common person. The Dar al-Hikmah, when it stood, hadn’t near the resources available to any person with a major public library card today.

I believe that not only can every student learn, but that every student can be motivated to want to learn. I believe that learning is its own reward, and that the process can be facilitated by creating safe blocks of time dedicated to no other task. Praise, encouragement, and attentiveness of a tutor to a student’s academic progress can cultivate this attitude towards learning. A learned tutor cultivates these philomathic tendencies also by helping frustrated students work past allegorical road blocks, and to guide students towards vital conceptual connections.

I believe also that anyone can learn mathematics. Just as math-phobia is learned, so is a love of math. Quite often what stands in a person’s way is an incomplete understanding of core concepts, or a knowledge that is limited to rôte memorization. Spending time on these core concepts, and showing their connections to current material, can result in a complete understanding that facilitates the learning of future material.

I believe that even a student who has a strong foundation in core concepts can benefit by working with a tutor. Gifted students in particular need to be challenged with material at their learning level so as not to risk falling into either intellectual doldrums or an exaggerated sense of ease when they find themselves in classes that feel either boring or repetitious. School teachers often have much greater strength in classroom management and child psychology than they do in advanced mathematics, and so may be unable to provide some students with the challenges that they need to prosper.

Finally, I believe that the first few decades of a person’s life set the track for all that is to follow. Every opportunity must be seized upon for a smooth transition into a successful happy and fulfilling life. I believe that I can bestow an advantage on students with an advanced understanding of mathematics that will help them in whatever path they choose.

Philosophy