Today, children are expected to earn high grades in all of their classes, in spite of the failing public school system. Parents can still remember when an education was essential in preparing children for their livelihood.

Now what many public school systems offer is overcrowded classrooms. Teachers are being grossly underpaid for their skills and overworked. Outdated learning material, metal detectors, violence, cuts in federal spending for education....

Remedial help is sorely needed for some students so they can keep up. If a child can't receive the education they deserve, how are they expected to prosper in society? Parents, students, and the public school systems already know that this is a hugh problem, but who can they turn to for help?

More and more parents are turning to tutoring to supplement their children's education and to further their children's abilities to be successful in the future.

Tutoring is a $4 Billion business that is growing steadily. Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, supplemental educational services are funded by school districts with a portion of their allocation from the U.S. Department of Education.

The Federal Government allocates as much as $1800 per eligible student, but so far, less than 10 percent of eligible students are electing to participate, according to providers' estimates.

One of the toughest challenges is simply convincing parents that the service is free to them. Parents will often hang up when sales reps for tutoring firms call to explain the program.

They think it is a scam because "free" usually means too good to be true. And sometimes parents simply don't want to acknowledge that their child needs help. Parents have been known to ask "What's wrong with my child that he needs to be tutored?"

In spite of these challenges, online tutoring, or Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) is expected to grow at an unprecedented rate. IDL is where a student receives live, one-on-one tutoring in a virtual classroom setting or in large group sessions over a video conferencing system.

Students who have access to a computer at home or in school can log in to the system and have a live tutor help them day or night. Subjects like Math, English, Calculus, World History, Latin, French, Chemistry, Physics and many others can be taught to them by certified tutors/teachers.

And there are online tutoring systems that even supply their own courseware library, featuring some of the finest programmed learning courses in computer sciences, management and academic subjects.

Children who receive one-on-one remedial tutoring have been known to have increased self-esteem and self confidence, increased focus and lengthened attention span.

My advice to parents everywhere is to find an online tutoring system that focuses on academic remedial courses for ages K-12, as well as for college students.

Why not give your child the best chance at passing each class with the help he or she needs? There's federal money allocated for the parents to provide online remedial help for their children. Also, parents are able to schedule tutoring sessions to fit into their time schedule.

In the long run, everyone shares in the child's accomplishment.