Is it cheating to hire a tutor? (Tutors, & everyone else, are welcome to answer.)

[Gauss44]

In your opinion, is it "cheating" to hire a tutor for any of the following:
1. To help ensure a good MCAT score?
2. To ensure good college grades?
3. To get help with graded homework?
4. To prepare for an exam when the professor hands out questions for homework and hints that they will be on the exam?

I know my opinion, but I also would like to hear the opinions of others.

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[litmajor]

Absolutely not. Why would it be? Is it cheating to get tutoring for your undergrad classes? Every school even offers tutors and has a tutoring center. Makes no sense that hiring a tutor would be cheating.

 

[deleted480308]

are you just really bored, OP?

 

[goodtime]

No, you are paying someone to hopefully make your life easier. If you choose to do it yourself it is the same thing. If it was cheating it would be "illegal" in the academic scenario and have consequences if caught.
#3/4 There is a difference between the tutor helping you with hw or doing it for you. Professors/TAs will even help with graded hw(obviously not all the problems) , so why can't a tutor not do the same.

 

[Gauss44]

are you just really bored, OP?

No, that was a question a student asked me. I wanted other perspectives.

 

[medic86]

You would have to be deluded to think that hiring a tutor is cheating.

There should be no other perspectives.

... unless you're a psychopath.

 

[TheRhymenocerous]

No, it's not cheating by the way cheating is usually defined, but ethically, I don't think it's as black and white as everyone else seems to. In a curved class, is it fair for one student to have someone walking them through assignments when other students can't afford that? Where do you draw the line between helping someone with an assignment and just plain doing their work for them? In an ideal world, everyone would have access to the same academic support and be competing on an even playing field, but that's obviously not how the world actually works.

 

[Gauss44]

You would have to be deluded to think that hiring a tutor is cheating.

There should be no other perspectives.

... unless you're a psychopath.

I wouldn't consider the opposite perspective to be that extreme ("deluded" or "psychopath"). Maybe a matter of being mistaken or jealous, or something else along those lines.

I held off on providing my perspective, but I think that some people might be mistaken, and mistake, an "advantage," or in some cases what may be seen as an "unfair advantage," for "cheating." Or, be jealous and "spin" an advantage, such as having a tutor, as "cheating."

Other perspectives still welcome.

 

[edgerock24]

Ridiculous question/thread. You're better than this Gauss.

 

[jamcat]

Totally agree with the Rhymenocerous! No, not cheating to hire a tutor at all, but a good tutor gives a significant advantage to those rich enough to afford one. That said, life's not fair, and this falls under the "not fair" portion of it.

I started tutoring to make some money on the side and I honestly had no clue how much tutors make. Turns out that where I live they go for at least $50/hr and some go even for $100/hr. With my background and experience I'd be about $80/hr. Pre-meds with means sink thousands of dollars into tutors each semester, and that certainly affects where you are on the curve. When a significant number of students have tutors, it can really affect your grade if you don't. I realized what was happening and now I have a pay what you can afford policy. I give my all to each student so the quality is the same whether I get 50 dollars or 50 cents, but I just couldn't be part of a system that exacerbates inequality of opportunity to that extent.

I'm ambivalent though, because people also deserve to be paid what they're worth, including tutors. And if more tutors adopted my pay-what-you-can system, we'd end up with expensive high-quality tutors and free/cheap low-quality tutors, which doesn't help anything anyway.

 

[justadream]

It's obviously not cheating but I would be in favor of an admissions system that awards some marginal "favoring" to those with extremely low incomes (i.e., those at or below poverty line).

 

[Abraxas305]

i dunno OP, is being black cheating too because they have percentages that favor their admission over others /sarcasm

 

[jamcat]

I agree! I just can't think of a better system. There will always be rich and poor. You can't outlaw tutoring, obviously, and as long as there are tutors, the rich will benefit more than the poor. I'm not sure what we can do about it though.

 

[krukshanks]

No it's not! But if you hire a tutor for graded coursework, then make sure the final writeup is your own.