You see these celebrity tutors on bus ads and billboards everywhere: slickly dressed with heavily styled hair and perfect make-up, arms folded and a triumph smirk on their faces. Have you ever wondered why Hong Kong’s private tutors are marketed like South Korean pop stars?
Time Asia just did a fascinating report on the US$255 million tutoring industry and Hong Kong’s culture for exam cramming. Popular tutors can command jaw-dropping salaries of US$3 million a year — without even teaching in person.
The vast majority of students watch these tutors on tape, with only a few lucky students getting real-life instruction. According to Shum, who built the King’s Glory empire, this marketing is essential as teenagers are drawn to idol worshipping and that “few things could ease a teenager’s troubled mind quite like a pretty face.”
Tutors groom themselves like performance artists, even flying to South Korea to buy what Korean pop stars are wearing and training themselves to command attention like talk-show hosts. Only in Hong Kong!
Source: Time Magazine
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
