they're like little junkies, man

When it comes to overstepping my boundaries as a tutor/teacher I am a pro. Until recently I was a shameless line crosser because I, like my students (from India), hadn’t learned to look beyond the end product of the tutoring session or class. Then I learned that my approach was hurting both myself and the students. By handing out the answers I was creating classrooms full of students who had only learned dependence on the teacher to get the “right answer.” Instead of challenging the students to think independently and produce their own work, I was teaching them to write and say what they thought was my opinion of “good English.” This was hurting them, and later it started to hurt me when I realized that they weren’t learning. When I eventually shifted away from this style of teaching, they were reluctant to give up their old ways.

My students had become accustomed to the easy way and no longer wanted to think for themselves. They just wanted me to give them an easy out. When this happens its kind of like when your cousin Julio swears he’s going into rehab again, but he just wants you to fix him up one last rig—just for old times sake—and you know its wrong—he’s lying to you, man!—but that look in his eyes is so full of pain, and only you can stop it…I digress; but you get the point, right? When you take over a student’s work then they don’t learn anything except how to find someone who can give them help to get a better grade. I have already had similar experiences as a tutor. Some students, if you let them, will just sit there until you hand them the answers they are looking for.

Now the tutor is faced with the challenge of dealing with lazy students. Who can we blame for this problem? MTV? LSD? NBA? Or are we to blame? Admit it, sometimes it is easier to cross the line and overtake a session than it is to sit there and explain something endlessly to someone who doesn’t seem to want to understand what you are trying to say. This quick solution to the problem session is shortsighted. You may be able to send the student quickly away from the writing session but now they will just come back expecting the same thing. Because you crossed the line you have just created another student-junkie who has learned to be dependant on a tutor’s help for everything they write.

You know when you’ve crossed the line when you realize that you are the one doing all the talking, writing and thinking. Somewhere in the mid-sentence you catch the student saying nothing more than, “uh huh, uh huh, uh…yea, yes, uh, yea,” to everything you say. You notice that your writing is all over the paper and that the student has put down his/her pen and has a look of slight regret for coming in. They wonder, “Why did I come in here? How long is this writing nerd going to talk about commas n’ stuff?” In this instance, or one similar to it, is the moment where the tutor should realize that they have crossed the line, and that doing all the work is only going to create a short term solution to the writer’s problems.