Just because Smogon has shown to run an effective Tutor program doesn't mean we can't do a similar thing on a smaller scale here. It's not about creating a tutor program that rivals Smogon so much as it's trying to create more interest for battling on this forum. As long as the Tutors are chosen well and the people who want to learn actually listen then it should succeed, the mods will likely have to nudge the program along and keep monitoring it.
Sure, it would be good for about a week, two weeks maybe, but interest will die down fast after that. You can bet on that happening because if it's effective, people will learn fast and only a few new people will ask every once in a while to be tutored. If it's not effective it will be because horrible time zone conflicts or real life issues will get in the way.
You've got to realize that very few people get into competitive battling because they want to learn how to battle. But a whole lot more get into it just to battle and have fun and they will learn how to battle along the way. The problem is and always will be when people get on and whether anything will be happening when they do get on. A tutoring program isn't going to fix that by itself, and I honestly think it's just going to suffer unless people stick around more.