More on Math Tutoring

I find the text the student I am tutoring is using seems to pursue the subject in pretty much the wrong way. While it does offer some derivations, explanations, and applications, the emphasis is on procedures that will yield the right answer to some pretty arcane questions. Being able to find the roots of polynomials or the three forms of equations to describe a translated and amplified parabola are not skills that most people will need, so knowing how to do these things is of very little value. On the other hand, being able to figure how a dependent value responds to changes in an independent value can be very useful in many walks of life, but the emphasis should be on the overall logical approach not specific techniques. providing software that helps find the answers makes things even worse.  We must recognize the difference between being told how to get answers to examples and learning to solve problems and teach accordingly.