If tutors really do reliably produce two-sigma learning gains, then why aren't most top achievers the product of tutors? Yes, they're expensive, but perhaps "only" 2-3x private school; there are a lot of wealthy parents. Diminishing returns for high achievers?
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most top researchers I know effectively had a tutor even if it wasn’t named that eg close academic advisor
personally I’ve explicitly had a string of 1-1 ~fulltime mentors going back consistently to when I was 11, although none of them thought they were “tutors”
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at least in my case there is a 0% chance anything good I’ve done I could have done without the tutors. If you put them all in a blender you get me, it’s just very easy to see the lineage
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Right, I feel similarly. There's a big difference between mentor and tutor though! The former implies much more self-direction, right?
… wait, you've had *full-time* mentors since you were 11?! What do you mean by full-time?
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I can’t be super open about it all for legal reasons, but 10-14 I was apprentice to someone who ran a high end web application dev shop, and he guided me basically hourly on how to improve for years. Took embarrassing and free jobs at start but eventually was managing people
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*nods* Do you have a "full-time" mentor now?
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I’ll dodge the question because there’s been various big shifts in my life over the last 6mo but over the last 2y+ I’ve learned a ton under — far more than I would have alone! I really can’t advocate for tutoring/apprenticeship/etc enough
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Did these mentors find their way into your life along your path, or did you seek them out and engage them directly for such a relationship?
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