Chinese Parents Sue Consultant

ExieMITAlum
Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:38:37 +0000

I’m laughing and crying at the same time. It’s not just consultants. When I was managing a large department at a local corporation, I would find some of my employees working on their children’s school assignments during their breaks and lunch hours. When I asked why they’d say “Well, my DS has so much to do, he just can’t get it all done.” Then they wonder why their kids crash and burn at college.

Yep - distressing for sure. If I had fewer ethics, I could pay off my mortgage by being a consultant. But I wouldn’t last. Clients would send me into orbit. A good friend of mine is a brilliant IB trained science teacher. The school suggested that parents of a student flunking in another class, hire her as a tutor. They did, but insisted that she come to their house rather than drive the student to hers. So she doubled her rate to $100 to compensate for the 30 minute drive. The mother balked and complained. When my friend arrived at the near palatial estate, she was ordered to enter through the servants door in the back. The girl was resistant to tutoring and demanded the tutor do her work for her. My friend - who has children of her own - declined. After a while, the spoiled kid began to improve her grades. Then the father, coming home early, asked my friend why she was entering through the back door. Once he heard the story, he blew a gasket.

Likewise, I had a mother insist she was too busy to bring her student to my Exeter interview and insisted I drive 40 minutes to meet her son at his school. The kid answered his cell phone throughout the interview, seemed disinterested, and at the end asked “So am I getting in or what?” You don’t need to guess what I wrote on my report. I did, however, suggest to Exeter that if the student was a practical joke, the school had just paid me back in spades for every prank I pulled when I was on campus.

So now I’m in MIT interview mode and the horror stories are far worse than the ones above. Which is why we do them in person - the kid who shows up, doesn’t always match the one on paper with the glowing grades and recommendations. Although my husband got lucky when vetting candidates when he stumbled on a teacher’s report that read “Don’t know why this student asked for a recommendation. Lazy, unmotivated, doesn’t do his own work.” I can only wish teachers would be more forthcoming on everyone.