What I Learned Teaching the Children of the One Percent
May 24, 2021
Learning specialist Grossberg (Autism and Your Teen) interweaves memoir, psychology, and exposé in this juicy yet sympathetic account of the 15 years she spent tutoring the privileged students of New York City’s elite private schools. When she took on private clients in addition to her full-time job working with students with ADHD and “learning differences” such as dyslexia, Grossberg developed a reputation as “a kind of tutoring messiah.” She delves into the high demand for tutors in New York, where some tutoring companies charge as much as $800 per hour, and describes the “endless strategy and conniving” that parents employ to get their children into “the Ivy League or Stanford.” Throughout, Grossberg spotlights the wealth gap between her and her students (one of whom gets ridiculed at the Brooklyn bodega where he tries to buy a $2 bagel with his father’s Amex Gold Card), but she also expresses genuine empathy for the pressures they and their parents face (The Great Gatsby is frequently invoked), shares inspiring stories of educational breakthroughs, and offers concrete advice on the college application process. This nuanced chronicle humanizes an oft-caricatured world. Agent: Jessica Papin, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.