Difficult Clients and Tutor dependency

In her essay, Kristin Walker sheds some light on how tutors should deal with difficult clients who have become dependent on the tutor. I found her essay quite interesting because I have tutored students who have become so "attached" to me that I had "transfer" them to other turors. I can understand that a student might like the way a specific tutor works, or develop a rapport with a tutor that is very comfortable and he or she wants to keep meeting with that tutor. However I believe that developing too close an attachment with one tutor tends to blur the line between the tutor and tutee. I often encourage the students with whom I work to meet with other tutors and they balk at my suggestion. Yet I think that students should work with different tutor and gain different perspectives on their writing.

Many students feel that the job of a tutor is to edit, proofread, and rewrite their essays so they can get a better grade. Perhaps they have worked with other tutors who edit and proofread so they expect it every time they meet with a tutor. In fact, as a tutor at CCNY's writing center, I have on several occasions been berated for not meeting these expectations. As soon as I make it clear that I won't edit, and insist that the student has to participate in the session, the session becomes strained or ends abruptly. Most students do not want to edit their own work, not because they are unable to do so but because they do not want to. Editing, they believe, is the job of the tutor.

November 13, 2010 7:21 PM