U.S. homework outsourced as "e-tutoring" grows

[deadparrot]

BOSTON (Reuters) - Private tutors are a luxury many American families cannot afford, costing anywhere between $25 to $100 an hour. But California mother Denise Robison found one online for $2.50 an hour -- in India.

"It's made the biggest difference. My daughter is literally at the top of every single one of her classes and she has never done that before," said Robison, a single mother from Modesto.

Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, is one of 1,100 Americans enrolled in Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched U.S. services last November with a staff of 150 "e-tutors" mostly in India with a fee of $100 a month for unlimited hours.

Taylor took two-hour sessions each day for five days a week in math and English -- a cost that tallies to $2.50 an hour, a fraction of the $40 an hour charged by U.S.-based online tutors such as market leader Tutor.com that draw on North American teachers, or the usual $100 an hour for face-to-face sessions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060928/tc_nm/life_education_india_dc

[Donnachaidh]

1. and when do the College kids start paying people overseas to

write term papers for them? You *know* that's next.

[Matariki]

2. two-hour sessions in math and English. ENGLISH!

That's funny.

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Sounds like it belongs in the Onion

But reality beat them to the punch.

[Orsino]

4. Is it really a tutoring service?

Or is it a "do my homework" service? The story's pretty sketchy.