The Problem with Proportionality

One-on-one is one expensive affair

As I was walking out of the Bangsar LRT, I got a call.

The person on the other end enquired whether I could get a Hokkien teacher for a student.

Apparently, this student, an Indonesian, wanted to learn how to speak Hokkien orally.

No reason was given for his motivation.

I told him it was not easy to get one as Kuala Lumpur was a Cantonese speaking enclave.

Anyway, I told him since he also wanted the tutor to be able to converse in Mandarin as well; so as to use inter-language in the teaching of Hokkien to this student, it would not come cheap.

So, how much is the student willing to pay and where is the teaching venue?

It is somewhere in an office adjacent to a shopping complex on Tuanku Abdul Rahman Road.

There is also only one student. Teaching period will by 90 minutes.

I told him that it is awfully long for a conversational lesson. The longest should be an hour.

"So how much is the rate you are going to pay this tutor?" I asked innocently.

"RM65.00 for the entire 90 minutes. Two times a week."

"Wow!" I retorted.

"No one will teach at this rate."

Some people just do not have the sense of proportionality.

This chap will have a ghost of a chance to get a specialist to tutor this Indonesian boy.

Period.