Learning is not a one-size-fits-all system, and my philosophy has always been that neither should teaching. At the end of the day, it's also important how much a student can retain, and how interested in the subject they can become.

I remember when I was a student and feeling less than, or unintelligent when I didn't understand a concept. It wasn't until I worked with a tutor myself that I understood that my learning style didn't match up with some of my professors' teaching styles. It's just too bad that it took me until college to realize it. Teaching a large class, even one that seems smaller (30-40 students), is incredibly difficult when everyone learns in a different way. Usually professors and teachers will use a method that most students can understand, and hope for the best. But what happens when you're one of the students that doesn't learn well with that technique? It was at that point, for me, that realized a tutor was my only hope of passing certain classes. Because the tutor could tell exactly where I was getting caught up, they were able to help me work through all of my weak sections.

To me, it's not enough to understand a concept, but to retain that understanding. I can't recount the number of times I've understood a subject for a test and then completely forgotten it the next week. It's so important, in my opinion, to retain what your learning, otherwise that seems like a lot of trouble to go through. That's why I work on incorporating past lessons into current lessons, so all information learned is utilized to it's fullest potential.