If you’re a teenager summering in the Hamptons and a black Honda Accord pulls up to your driveway on a Thursday, the fun times probably are over.
That’s because it could be Jonathan Arak, the itinerant tutor, making a house call. Usually Arak travels around Queens, Westchester and Manhattan, where he lives, preparing kids for the SAT as part of the Princeton Review tutoring team. But in the past few years, he’s spent at least one day a week working in the Hamptons.
This year, he visited up to six houses a day on Thursdays in July and August. You know the drill: If you have to ask the price, don’t bother. (Okay, we asked -- it’s up to $400 an hour, depending on your contract.) Arak, 42, is a graduate of Oberlin College who had a career in theater before becoming an English and math tutor. He proudly reports that his students learned to ignore summer distractions such as pools and tennis courts for a while, and they boosted scores on practice tests.
As for Arak, he used to try to squeeze in some fun in the sun during his East End swings. "I arranged my schedule with time to go the beach, but that year invariably when I tried to lay out on the beach, it rained."
- Dave Marcus
