Gold Academy

Optimal thought and optimal fitness through reason, logic, science, wisdom, and passion.
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Home» About » Policies and FAQs

Policies and FAQs

Policies

Payments

We accept cash, checks, PayPal, and money wires. We might arrange credit card payments, if you wish. You may pay on a class-by-class basis, pay by the week, or pay by the month. Some people choose to pay ahead for a month or six, some pay by the class. We have no contract, so you may come and go as you please.

Reserved times

You can reserve a day(s) and time(s) every week if you use the time most every week. After a few cancellations, the time could be taken by someone else who is willing to be consistent. While we will do more for those who have a higher level subscription or level of device, we aim to be fair to everyone, and will not give up someone’s time slot because someone who pays more wants the time someone else has. If the two clients agree to switch times, then it could be arranged; we will do the contacting at set up the swap: you do not have to.

Class/session cancellations

Last minute cancellations will be billed as normal hours. Please let us know by noon of the previous day if you need to cancel. Exceptions are made, of course, for emergencies and situations beyond your control: illness, death in the family, car accidents, bad traffic you cannot get through; in these cases last-minute cancellations or delays are necessary and proper, and no charge will apply.

Changing class/session time

We can reschedule your regular time if possible. We try to maintain some flexibility for changes in your schedule that might come up from time to time, but it is not always possible. To change your time might mean shuffling around everyone else that day, which cannot not always be done.

Refunds

Refunds will be given on a prorated basis for those who pay ahead. Refunds will also be provided on a case-by-case basis for individual classes, when things did not go to my satisfaction. For group classes, you will be expected to finish out the month. Any payment beyond that will be refunded.

Philosophy

We should make this a mutually beneficial, win-win situation. We should both get value out of the tutoring and classes.

FAQs

What are your credentials?

Michael Gold has been teaching and tutoring for over 20 years, has a B.S. in Mathematics and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, and has Texas Teacher’s Credentials in Secondary Mathematics from the University of Houston. For more information, see the About Me page and the Testimonials page.

Where do you have tutoring? Where do you meet?

Tutoring locations are, most often, in your home or at a location such as a Starbucks, Panera, Beck’s Prime, local coffee house, or local library. We could also meet at home via the Internet. (See The Online Virtual Classroom.) Where we meet will depend, in part on logistics: where we are and where we can be at a particular time.

What are your rates?

Pricing for private, one-on-one tutoring sessions and for group sessions is posted on the Pricing For Tutoring page. For prices for classes, see the Pricing For Classes page.

How do we pay?

You may pay by the session, pay every two weeks, or pay ahead by the month or six-month period. You may pay by cash, check, PayPal, or wire transfer. We do not usually take credit cards, but, if need be, we could set something up.

How much tutoring do we need? How many days? How many hours?

How much tutoring you do will depend on your schedule, goals, and pocketbook. You need to consider what time you have available given the demands of all your children, their activities, your work, maybe a spouse’s or significant other’s work and life, etc.

In terms of your goals, you need to ask what you want from tutoring. Do you want only homework support? Preparation for tests? Something more?

To prepare for a test, you might need only one or two hours a week. To provide homework support, you might want to schedule one to three days a week, an hour each time.

To make a difference in a student’s thinking skills, we’d probably have to plan on a few hours a week.

Remember, students are in school about 35 hours a week as it is; then they have homework to do after school. A few hours is a drop in the bucket by comparison. But the payoff is big.

As one of my students said “I learn more from you in an hour than I do in school in a month.”

But you must consider what you can afford and what is worthwhile. Health and a good education seem to be the most important things in life, as they make possible the others. A good education is worth the price.

Do you have any references?

Yes. References are available upon request.

Rarely or Never Asked Questions

Do we even need a tutor?

All can benefit from a tutor: those who are failing and those who are making As. There is always improvement to be made and enrichment to be had. The goal is to live life at an optimum, not just to get by. The goal is to thrive, not merely survive. The goal is to make the most of oneself and to realize one’s dreams, not to accept mediocrity. But you must have a rational tutor/educator help you.

Are all tutors/teachers the same?

No! Teachers and tutors are not interchangeable! Some are vastly better than others, which means a different life for you or your child!

The Value of Teachers, by Nicholas Kristoff, discusses the economic impact of good teachers and bad teachers, but there is a lot more beyond that: influences on success, happiness, psychology, decision making, awareness of the world and self. How can you calculate the value of someone who can teach a child to reason and who can show the child how?

See also Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain,  What is a Good Teacher Worth?,  The Long-term Impacts of Teachers,    Value-added Measures of Teachers.

How are you different from other tutors? Why should I choose you?

In simple terms: we aim for conceptual understanding, not rote acquaintance. As it arises naturally in our classes or tutoring sessions, we will work to improve each student’s logic and reasoning skills.

You or your child will learn thinking skills useful in all areas of thought and life, from science to law, from philosophy to art, from history to nutrition, from reading to analyzing everyday claims. To make it easy for each student and to properly build his or her knowledge of a subject, we teach in a step-by-step, logical manner.

Some students, however, resist doing anything but what they are taught in school and what they have for homework, and some have already become averse to mathematics from years of a bad approach to mathematics, and maybe knowledge in general. These students we help work through their homework (but we do not do it for them), trying to nudge them into understanding and having a wider perspective. We are willing to help on homework and studying for tests, as long as the student, not us, does the work, and as long as the student makes some effort to understand a subject and why it is important in human life.

In terms of fundamentals: unfortunately, most tutors are influenced by the philosophers Plato, Immanuel Kant, and John Dewey, leading them to misunderstand how we really learn and reason. Some consequences of their ideas are the questions “When am I ever going to use this?,”  “Why is this important?,”  “Why does this not make sense?,”  “Why is this so hard?”.

As the philosopher and historian of science David Harriman has observed,  Johannes Kepler, the great scientist, failed miserably when he tried to follow the methods of Plato.

As for Kant, Kant said that there was no objective reality, that truth was a social construct. If people wanted to believe that 1 + 1 = 5, then it was so. Absurd such a doctrine should have any influence, but, when couched, as it was, in complex, obfuscating theories and ideas, and when coming in context of the history of human thought, it was not so obviously wrong to many people.

Dewey followed the ideas of Kant, and introduced them into American thought. Dewey played a major part in the widely researched and reported “dumbing down” of American education. He believed such absurd things as that Aristotle’s logic worked for so long, that it now had to be wrong.

When following the methods of Aristotle, Kepler was, as David Harriman has observed, a great scientist. (Kepler was conflicted: he was straddling the methods of Middle Ages “science” and modern science, having one foot in each camp.) Galileo, Newton, Darwin had an Aristotelian approach to science and mathematics. That is why they were successful.

They thought inductively and put the evidence of the senses first; they did not, like Descartes, make up some idea that allegedly had to be true and pretend to deduce everything from that premise or some limited group of axioms.

As it is a key to science, math is a key to induction, and should be taught with that in mind.

So here we have a fundamental difference between Gold Academy and many other tutors: we have an approach that is, as much as possible (we still need to develop a full, proper theory of the philosophy of mathematics), inductive and focused on the real world we live in. We are inductive, because induction is objective and gives us certainty; it is the fundamental, valid, cause-effect process of finding knowledge.

Testimonials

"[The twins] did well on [their geometry final]. Got 90+."
Mythili R, parent of high school student,
"'Use logic in math' is my motto."
Sophia S, high school (I love that quote.),
"On my geometry quiz I got a 98% and it went really well and I felt I knew the info. Thank you for all the help and for assisting me when I did not understand something."
Casey C, high school student,
"He went through his theorems, explained how any number to the power of 0 is actually 1, and then demonstrated how you taught him to work with polynomials vs. how his book taught him. Shall we say he likes your way better? He has read through everything you gave him plus tackled the homework........you've really lit a fire under him."
Helen G, parent of middle school student,
"Thank you, Michael. He is gaining some confidence in what he does know and quickly admitting what he needs to work on. I am very happy with this method."
Cathy L, parent of high school student,
"When Colby got in the van today I asked, How was Class? He replied, 'That was awesome.' so...thanks!"
Mary H, parent of high school student,
"At school we just memorize and repeat stuff back; you teach me to understand."
John T, high school student,
"If math was explained to me like this, I would have understood it a long time ago!"
Brooke Z, high school student,
"My average is actually a 96 right now and I made a 94 on the last quiz. We're still doing conics."
Kevin B, high school student,
"Oh! I just found out I made a 93 on the [AP Statistics] project-YAY!"
Taylor R, high school student,
"All of my son's grades have gone up [not just his math grades]."
Tom T, parent of high school student,
"Why didn't [so-and-so test prep company] ever tell me this??"
Brian C, high school student,
"Gifted kids are truly 'special needs' kids, as much as children on the other end of the spectrum. It is challenging to parent a kid like this but we muddle through somehow!!! I'm so pleased that we found you because you can challenge him in ways that I simply can't. I'm excited to see where he goes under your tutorage. :)"
Helen G, parent of middle school student,
"You are doing an awesome job with how you handle him. I love the way you explain things to him. You are very kind and patient. Thank you."
Vicki W, parent middle school student,
"I just wanted to say hi and thanks for your help with Physics! This fall I am either going to take Calculus 1 over again or take Calc 2. ... Either way I am sure you'll be hearing from me."
Casey L, college student,
"Thank you. Without you, my son would not have gotten a B. I don't know what we would have done."
Marshall B, parent of high school students,
"You clearly love what you do and are good at it. It comes through."
Rob S, MBA student,
"I wanted to thank you for all the help you've given Zach. ... [Next year at college] he will be taking calculus. So, you probably will have to be tutoring him or hopefully will tutor him in the fall. Thanks for all your help this past year. Zach would not have passed precalculus at all or done near as well on his SAT or ACT test without your help."
Cindy Q, parent of high school student,
"I learn more from you in one hour than I do from school in a month."
John T, high school student,
"With Mr. Gold's help I managed to get a golden SAT score!!! My SAT score increased from a 1630 to a 1970!"
Tia Z, high school student,
"Michael are you ready: important Maths quiz score 81 and less important quizlet 100!!!! Yeah!!"
Corinna C, parent of high school student,
"Also, she just called me & said she made a 92 on her math test that she took right before spring break. :)) I'm very happy for her. THANK YOU! It would NOT be possible without your support!!!! I don't know what she's going to do at college!!!"
Melissa S, parent of high school student,
"Had a microbiology midterm this morning. On the exam there was a bacterial growth problem that required a little bit of math to determine the answer. I could not for the life of me recall the equation we were told to use...luckily I was able to reason out the equation using some logarithm rules (which I can't believe I remembered lol).

"Who knew you could use reason and math(?!?!?) to answer a science-concept question. Here I thought science was just about the memorization and regurgitation of knowledge. Glad I had someone to teach me how to think!"

Rajiv R, ex-student,
"Jack made a 100 on his major test today!!!!! He is so proud! Thanks so much!!!"
Joy R, parent of high school student,
"Mike, thank you so much for this birthday gift. I have been super busy trying to establish a career in entertainment while finishing up my degree. You have had a profound impact on my life approach and philosophy. Your teachings of self-reliance, true freedom and accountability have helped me become a more disciplined and well rounded person. Thank you so much for thinking of me on my birthday this year it means a lot."
John T, former high school and college student,
"Kyle had a positive response as well. It was hard to convince him to agree to do this tutoring session. He said [WebEx] was very hands on and elaborate. He's willing to do next week's session." (Kyle was thinking that online tutoring would be frustrating and a waste of time.)
Donna G, mother of high school student,
"I agree with you 100%. [Madison] has gone from a D/C student to a B/A student. She is knocking it out of the park right now, not just by getting the work done but by also doing it correctly. It is nice to have her as a student I can rely on to do her work and know how to do it. I know that she has tried to share her story with others to encourage them to just try and do their work, that Algebra is not as hard as they are making it out to be and I appreciate that.

I hope she finishes up the year strong."

Mr. M, high school teacher of Madison S; quote from emailed note from teacher to parent,
"Jack made an 87 on his test. That's his highest test grade yet in pre AP chemistry! We are thrilled! Thank you!"
Joy R, parent of high school student,
"You are the best tutor who gets the best result Matt has worked with. Thank you again."
Dennis P, father of a high school student,
"You Sir, are a miracle worker.... Can't believe Tay got an 83 on Calc test!!! Thank you SO much!"
Adrienne W, mother of a college student,
"Mr. Gold I have to say without a doubt you are the smartest teacher I have ever met."
Alec K, high school student,
“I used to go to some Exam Reviews where a guy would just spend hours teaching you a bunch of tricks to help you barely get by in your classes. People would spend a bunch of money on these classes and still end up doing poorly in their classes. When I talked to students who did well in the same classes, they all really understood the material. When I did what these students did (spent more time reading the textbook, practicing problems, etc.), I would perform much better in my classes. My grades shot up. And Mr. Gold was an important part of my program to understand." (He was a student I worked with for years who went off to college out of town. He found he needed to come back to town sometimes to get some good quality help.)
Rajiv R, former high school student ,
"Thanks for the [SAT] class - it was incredibly helpful and good practice."
Jessica P, high school student,
"Thank you again for your efforts and wonderful tutoring for both the SAT and ACT prep classes. I think the benefits reach far beyond good scores on standardized tests. I believe the skills you teach and emphasize have a tremendous impact on our kiddos critical thinking as well. You are greatly appreciated by our family!"
Michelle F, mother of high school student,
"Thank you so much for giving your time to teach the ACT and SAT prep classes. I really appreciate it, and I believe that it helped me greatly in taking the tests. I am very happy with my scores."
Courtney F, high school student,
"I wanted to thank you again for the ACT prep class. I got a 30 on the ACT on my first try. Your classes really prepared me - there's no way I could have gotten that without your help. So THANK YOU!"
Jessica P, high school student,
"I really did learn more than geometry and math taking classes with you. I learned to reason and use logic to start solving things in everyday life. It’s pretty useful at work when I use reasoning to find root causes, and to find and fix problems. You teach people how to THINK!"
Dylan T, ex-high school student now in his 20s,
I passed my welding engineer course after three years of studying on my own and applying the basic principles you instilled in me. I am now a certified Apprentice Welding Inspector recognized by the American Welding Society.

The skills you taught me allow me to outperform even on tests that are initially of an unfamiliar subject matter just due to the logic and the testing rules you taught me years ago.

Thank you!

Jimi T,
I passed my welding engineer course after three years of studying on my own and applying the basic principles you instilled in me. I am now a certified Apprentice Welding Inspector recognized by the American Welding Society.

The skills you taught me allow me to outperform even on tests that are initially of an unfamiliar subject matter just due to the logic and the testing rules you taught me years ago.

Thank you!

Jimi T (ex student),
I hope more kids go to you for tutoring; you made me enjoy learning again.
Jacob L, ex-student,
You're one heck of a tutor. College is a lot easier due to the way you taught me how to think.
Josh P, ex-student,
"Michael Gold is an awesome trainer. His workouts are designed to improve all elements of fitness: coordination, strength, stamina, mobility, just to name a few.

"Back in college I did a year of CrossFit and later on went through weight lifting programs with trainers at my gym. Michael has definitely been #1 when it came to proper form and joint/ligament strengthening.

"I trained with Michael for about 7 months and I saw huge improvements in my endurance and fitness. I felt better overall and even had some surprising benefits.

"I now effortlessly make baskets when throwing paper into my garbage bin, whereas, before working with Michael, I would always miss. And I am now much more aware of my environment, which especially helps when driving.

"He is big on safety and makes sure he trains to match people's fitness levels whatever they may be.

"I would definitely recommend him to anyone trying to improve their fitness and well-being in whatever capacity."

Joseph S,
"Exercising in the woods with Michael has benefited me more than any other type of workout that I have done with any trainer. The more I work out with Michael, the more I learn about my physical/mental strengths and weaknesses, and about nutrition for athletic performance and good health.

"Ultimately, strengthening and conditioning is my goal. I enjoy the natural movements and the unlimited amount of exercises that Michael routinely exhibits in the outdoors. Climbing trees, carrying logs and asymmetrical objects, learning to balance on uneven surfaces, and strengthening ligaments, rather than just muscles, are unique exercises Michael utilizes.

"He is more than just your typical trainer as he covers your overall well-being.

"I am a freshman on the LSU football team and can attest that Michael is an excellent strength coach, and he knows more about diet and nutrition than any other trainer I know."

Carlton S,
“Gold Academy is an experience unlike anything I was expecting. Coming from a background of physical contact sports such as hockey and football, I wanted to get myself back into form, without a florescent lighting tan, without aggravating previous injuries from the glory days. Being outside was the greatest reward, and the challenge I was looking for. Michael was with me every step of the way, building routines for with me and for me, helping me to build my body correctly and avoid injuries. This is not a boot camp for those who need someone mindlessly yelling in your face. This was an in depth structured experience, for me to be my own drill sergeant, because that is where true success lies, in becoming the best version of yourself. Starting off simply, then constantly challenging yourself to master simplicity, until your skills are your foundation. This a custom tailored experience, and I recommend Michael's expertise and logical approach. Be prepared to learn with Michael, he's a great teacher and an invaluable resource of knowledge. Be prepared to be immersed in nature. Be prepared to bring your mind, body, diet, and thinking to new levels. I recommend the Gold Academy experience for all those looking to build the best self version they achieve. Get out of the box and get involved!”
Matthew Hines, Houston Texas,
Michael expounds all that is science in such an interesting and exciting way! He always keeps my kids engaged and thinking that science is fun!

He presents science in a logical, rational, integrated way – making it easy and possible to take everything they are learning and apply it in ‘the real world’… not just a list of useless facts, but tangible, knowable, valuable life lessons.

He builds a great foundation with biology first and all the rest of the sciences following and integrating from there. Who knew that biology, physics, physical fitness, and chemistry are all related and integrated? Just take a few science classes with Michael, and you’ll see for yourself!

Whether you’re homeschooling and want to seriously upgrade your science curriculum or just want to supplement your child’s deplorably lacking public school science education. Michael will make science fun, interesting, and relevant to your kids’ lives – and yours!

Melanie H (homeschool mom of 3),

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