Letter to the Hoot—outsourcing homework?

BY namitha| IN Opinion | 14/05/2006

Such pieces are an insult to readers and there can be no excuse by the writer that she was only highlighting something that exists.

As a parent of a school-going child, I am outraged by the tone and contents of the item entitled "Your friendly neighbourhood BPO" by Anuradha Kaul which appeared in Hindustan Times City(Supplement, page 1) dated May 9, 2006. The author not only adopts a casual tone about "outsourcing" homework, she actually uses the term "new age entrepreneurs" to describe people who are essentially helping others cheat. And she takes the friendly neighbourhood journalist role further by helpfully providing a list of five projects that can be outsourced and their rates. Following on the heels of the Kaavya Vishwanathan episode and the undoubtedly serious issue of plagiarism that has become rather too common for comfort, as parents, teachers, journalists and policy makers, we do have to ask ourselves some questions about how to foster creativity and original thinking. But such pieces are an insult to readers and there can be no excuse by the writer that she was only highlighting something that exists. It is entirely possible to write in a more responsible manner.

Namitha Dipak

Delhi

May 13, 06

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