About Kumon – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Do you know which post has had the most traffic on Maths Insider? There’s a big clue in the Wordle word cloud above!
It’s my post, “8 Things to Hate About Kumon – A Review”
Of course, if you’ve read my About page, you’ll know that I used to be a Kumon instructor. I ran a Kumon tutorial centre in the UK for 3 years.
But some Maths Insider readers have asked me,
“What is Kumon?”
You see, not everyone has heard of Kumon, even though, according to their official website, they have had 16 million students in 46 countries around the world.
So let me tell you about Kumon – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!
Kumon is an educational franchise, originally founded by Toru Kumon in 1956
The Good
Like McDonalds, the franchising effect means that there are thousands of Kumon centres around the world, from Germany to South Africa and from The Phillipines to the US, all helping children with maths.
The Bad
Each instructor, although trained by Kumon will bring their own personality to the program, some are rigid and some are flexible. The majority have never been teachers.
The Ugly
Like McDonalds, profit is the big motive. Kumon is worth over $650 million, made from charging $100 a month, taking 40% from franchisees, and employing young and poorly paid support staff.
Kumon students typically visit the study centre once or twice a week and are given homework to do for the other 6 days
The Good
At the study centre your child gets support from the Kumon staff and sees other children, all studying towards a common goal.
The Bad
As a parent, you have to take your child to the centre, or arrange for the work to be sent to you each week.
The Ugly
You the parent have to “police” your child’s Kumon homework 5 or 6 days a week, and field the complaints of, “It’s BORING!”
Kumon is an “individualised” learning program – students only move up to the next level when they have mastered the work. Mastery is defined as speed and accuracy
The Good
Each student works through the program at just the right pace for themselves, and children will develop motor and concentration skills as they repeat the worksheets.
The Bad
The repetition and the speed criteria in particular can be tough for children to meet.
The Ugly
Students can literally get stuck at certain difficult stages in the Kumon program for weeks due to the strict enforcement of target times.
All Kumon students start with easy work relative to their ability
The Good
Student’s will find the work easy and will initially enjoy doing the worksheets.
The Bad
The easy Kumon work eventually becomes not so easy, and then really rather difficult.
The Ugly
Doing 10 pages of questions like these, quickly and accurately is extremely difficult. Even Kumon themselves call this the Level D mountain.
Kumon Level D Worksheets
The Kumon program encourages independent learning
The Good
The Kumon worksheets explain and guide students whenever a new topic is introduced, therefore they can work independently.
The Bad
Students can’t always figure out the work themselves, especially at the higher levels. At larger centres, it can be impossible for instructors and assistants to have the time to explain the work.
The Ugly
There are tales on message boards of students being driven to tears because instructors refused to explain work to them.
Want to know more about Kumon?
The Good
The Kumon US or Kumon UK websites.
The Bad (actually more funny than bad!)
A mother enrolls herself onto the Kumon program for 5 months, “I’m a Math Moron” – Slate Magazine
The Ugly
Donald Sauter, a former Kumon instructor spills all! His Kumon contract was not renewed after he radically tried to change the system, he tells the whole epic story on his website.
Are you a parent trying to make the decision about whether Kumon is right for your family? Check out Maths Insider’s Ultimate Kumon Review
Share your good, bad and ugly Kumon experiences in the comments below!
31 Responses to “About Kumon – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”
Maria Droujkova on October 1, 2010
Thank you for the colorful write-up! I will send people here when they ask about Kumon!
ckmukisa on October 2, 2010
Your welcome! I’m getting a lot of visitors to my site who searched for “Kumon reviews” on Google, so there are definitely many people who want to know about the good, bad, and ugly side of Kumon!
Dan on October 2, 2010
It is very lucky to see your review through Google. We are planning to invest a learning center in Toronto for G1 to G12 students. For rapidly going into the business, we are thinking to use Franchise, and Kumon is one of them (Kumon, Oxford and Sylvan). My 13-years-old daughter hated Kumon very much when she went to it several years before so that I have to teach her by myself. Could you kindly give me some suggestions about this investment? I am just a math private instructor and I want to expend my private one to one tutoring to a formal business and I can hire other teachers to teach reading and writing.
Thank you so much for your two reviews about Kumon. They may kill my decision to invest this franchise brand.
ckmukisa on October 3, 2010
The advantage of running a franchise is that the company has a system that works and a brand that advertises itself, however as a franchisee you pay heavily for these. Setting up on your own is doable but requires lots of research. Try to find people who have done this before, but are in a different city or country so that you’re not a competitor. Investigate your local laws regarding setting up a tuition centre, check the costs for staffing, premises rental, materials etc. After you’ve done that then you’ll be in a better position to decide whether to choose a franchise or not.
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Frank Ho on December 1, 2010
The way to teach elementary student math must be different from those who teach high school math and the way to produce elementary math workbooks must be also different from those who produce high school math workbooks.
The main problem with the current many elementary math worksheets is they are oudated and do not have any new ideas. Young kids like puzzles, and they like games, they like cell phones but how do we incorporate all these what they like into math worksheets?
To just put a computer game on the computer is not the solution because it gives students a feeling that they are playing games not doing math. They do not improve math much by just playing computer games.
combine the subject of math, chess and puzzles all in one worksheet is the solution.
Beth Hewitt on January 15, 2011
Hi Caroline,
I have to confess I too have never heard of Kumon. Thank you for your frank and honest thoughts on the company. It will definitely allow parents to have a better understanding and point them in the right direction for them to do their due diligence.
Thanks for the info,
Beth :)
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Linda G. Cox on January 19, 2011
Caroline~
Kumon is new to me! Your write-up is great fun to read! My kids are nearly high school graduates so we’re not needing this service. I’m glad I had a chance to read about it here, I’ll tell any of my friends who have children still at this age.
Linda
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Caroline Mukisa on January 19, 2011
Thanks for passing by Linda!
I hope your friends will find the Kumon information useful. If your kids are keen mathematicians the Wild About Math website has some nice higher level puzzles.
Belinda Cunningham on January 26, 2011
Hi Caroline
This has got to be the first blog that I have been on that is about maths. Well done. I am a teacher in Australia and have done my share of maths classes and had heard of Kumon. I will enjoy returning to your site to see what is going on here. McDonalds has a great maths site for students, not sure it is just an Australian site, are you familiar with it?
Belinda
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Caroline Mukisa on January 26, 2011
Hi Belinda!
Great that you discovered Maths Insider! I’ve tutored the kids of my Australian ex neighbour before so I’ve seen that the curricullum seems similar to the US and UK ones.
Thanks for the tip about the McDonalds website. I’m currently researching free maths websites for an article, so I’ll check that out!
Marlon Acosta on February 3, 2011
I have never heard of Kumon so thank you for sharing this wonderful post.
I love how broke down the pro’s and con’s about the system.
Steve Shoemaker on February 5, 2011
Caroline I must confess as well I have never heard of Kumon. But I do recognize when someone is passionate about a subject and really tries to explain the ins and outs of the topic discussed which I think you do very well. It was an interesting read.
Steve
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Yasser Khan on February 5, 2011
Hi Caroline!
the way you break down information in byte-sized pieces is exceptionally easy to comprehend and assimilate. Exactly like a tutor!
I can relate to that, as I did tutoring too in my younger days…
Yes, they’ve been very active in Singapore, with its tuition-crazy culture and ultra-competitive education system.
Yasser
Dr. Erica Goodstone on March 4, 2011
Caroline,
Kumon is new to me but sounds quite interesting. I am sure it helps many students to succeed who might have really struggled and failed often without this assistance. The negatives about parents having to take the children to the center and monitor the homework, donot sound like negatives – just good parenting skills.
I like the way you broke each aspect into the good, the bad and the ugly. You have made it so easy to understand and made your long blog post so easy to read.
Warmly,
Erica
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Caroline Mukisa on March 6, 2011
Hi Dr. Erica!
I’m glad you liked the format of this post. As with many things, there is always a good side and a bad side!
I can see your point about ferrying kids to centers and monitoring homework, but even the most conscientious parent needs to choose the “sanity saving” option at times. That’s one of the reasons why I use a few online programs with my own kids (as well as ferrying them to classes and monitoring homework both on and offline!)
Gavin Mountford on March 5, 2011
I’ve never actually heard of Kumon and maths was never my strong point at school. I love your blog, it’s different and unique from the blogs we usually see in TSA. Great to meet you and keep up the great work.
You should have a comment spam filter which I see on many blogs, it says something like… what’s 7+3? then they have to put the answer.
It would be funny if the person got it wrong wouldn’t it, lol
Thanks
Gavin
Caroline Mukisa on March 6, 2011
Hi Gavin,
Yes, not too many “maths” blogs on TSA, but still lots to learn from!
I have seen the arithmetic comment spam filters, they are cool, but I don’t want to put “non mathematicians” off.
Thanks for passing by!
Rakiya on March 11, 2011
Hi there, great article, hits the nail on the head!
I worked at Kumon for 4 years to find that only the rich, famous and desperate could afford to do it! But, somehow I managed to financially support my little sisters to do the math and english, by working there.
Whilst working there, I realized that my mental maths was so rubbish, having grown up at school with a calculator to hand. I worked in one of the best Kumon centres in the country with a real buzz and excitement, which made it all the worth while. She made us (staff) complete Kumon worksheets upto multiplication tables which paid dividends as now I pride myself with a Masters degree in MATHS lol.
And my two little sisters pride themselves with Masters degrees.
With all the boredom and financial frustration…it does pay off in the end, just it takes patience and motivation!
To all your math problem solving success
Rakiya
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Caroline Mukisa on March 15, 2011
Hi Rakiya!
Yes Kumon staff are encouraged to do at least some of the worksheets themselves – some of my maths phobic staff improved their mental maths skills once they realised marking the students worksheets was MUCH quicker without using the answer books!
My Kumon centre was actually a mix of the rich and famous and poor families who had scraped together the monthly fees.
Kumon does work but parents can certainly Do It Themselves with some guidance.
Cool that you and your sisters got Masters degrees as a result of your strong mental maths skills!
Thanks for passing by!
Eddy on May 30, 2011
My son went to kumon when he was4 years and 3 months. Ever since he was born, he played 365 days per year in the park or playpen, unless he gets sick. He played 5-6 hours per day outside and it came to a point where I need to give him a little bit of academic learning. I went to kumon and boy did he fly like bird in the sky. He’s 5 years and 6 months old now, he’s ranked 68 out of 12000 throughout the USA. In three months time, he’s going to be ranked 1. By the time he starts kindergarten he’s done 6th grade math and will soon pick algebra. He still plays 5-6 hours a day out in the park. He does 10 page packet in 30 minutes and I don’t give him reward at all. Organic playing and over working him in playing outside really worked for him. 99% play and 1% does well for him. I let him play in the park until he succumbs to exhaustion, that is my motto until now. When we get home he draws for hours. He sketches very good. I only taught him math, I never introduced him to reading, but I was surprised when his pre school teacher told me that he read a whole book to his classmates, I was flabbergasted. If I teach him how to read, I thought I might over worked it so I just let go of the reading and just proceed with the math. I thought maybe he started picking learning habit because he was already bored running outside the park and playing 365 days a year.
Eddy on May 30, 2011
Addendum, we never watched television at home.no tv at all.
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Anuja Kamat on September 9, 2011
My children have been in Kumon for the past 4 years. They love it. Like the first point said, “A lot depends on the instructor”. I would add, “And the child and parents”. One size does not fit all. I would suggest trying it. You can always quit if it does not. We have a wonderful, compassionate, patient instructor. He is indeed a great teacher. My children are academic. So may be that has worked out great for us. I am not sure I have seen an unhappy family at our center. If you are unhappy, talk, talk talk! and find a good solution. It is a good program. But it is upto the instructor, child and parents to make it work.
Crystal on December 5, 2011
My daughter’s doctor recommended that I have my daughter to attend for Mat but after reading this I am not sure. On top of that, I have no idea what an alternative program would be where it is good and there is a minimum of the bad and no ugly. You are very thorough on Kumon but can you suggest anything else?
Caroline Mukisa on December 9, 2011
Hi Crystal,
I really like some of the online maths program. You can read/watch my review of Maths Whizz here and Ten Marks is a good budget option. Also check out my post next Tuesday where I’ll be featuring some other great online maths programs.
Really? on February 10, 2012
I find it quite ridiculous when people mention how the Kumon instructors “are/or have not been teachers.” Most of the math is easy to a person who already knows it, so it’s irrelevant to bring that up. You don’t need a certified teacher to teach a 6-year-old what 2+2 is…
Jeff Radcliff on March 1, 2012
Thank you for that great write-up. As a former employee of the corporate side of Kumon, I’d have to say it is a great program if you have a great Instructor. If you’re not lucky enough to have a great Instructor, I’d save my dollars. I do not support the company, but I do support the franchisees.
Paul B on March 20, 2012
Great article. Been looking for ways to help improve the math skills in our family!
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sappy chillu on March 21, 2012
i think that kumon is great. all my kids do the maths and english program. i think that it really helps them. the maths is far more beneficial the english.
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