Outsourcing homework_英文原版

private tutors are a luxury many families cannot afford, but cheaper e-tutors are causing many australian children to now "outsource" homework.

a regular tutor can cost anywhere between $25 to $100 an hour.

but online tutors in countries such as india are charging as little as us$2.50 an hour, (aud$3.34) meaning  cash-strapped australian families can also afford to privately educate their children.   

this is how much american mother denise robison pays per hour for her daughter's online indian tutor.  

"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 ms robison.

her 13-year-old daughter, taylor, is one of 1,100 americans enrolled in bangalore-based tutorvista, which launched 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 us online tutors.

"i like to tell people i did private tutoring every day for the cost of a fast-food meal or a starbucks' coffee," robison said. "we did our own form of summer school all summer."

the outsourcing trend that fueled a boom in asian call centers staffed by educated, low-paid workers manning phones around the clock for australian and us banks and other industries is moving fast into education.

parents using schools like taylor's say they are doing whatever they can to give children an edge that can lead to better marks, better colleges and a better future, even if it comes from thousands of miles away.

many of the tutors have masters degrees in their subjects and have taught on average for 10 years. each tutor undergoes 60 hours of training, including lessons on accents and slang.