PayfortheA is definitely great for lazy bums or students who feel overwhelmed with homework. The newly-launched website, created by a group of teenagers from The Florida State University, is an online marketplace where students can buy or sell homework help. Students can find online tutors, copy-editors, or just get help with any one particular homework problem. The site works something like eBay. If you stumbled across any difficulty in york schoolwork, simply post an assignment within a specific category (Business, Economics, History, Music, etc.) and people who are looking for a quick buck can place their bids.
The site even has “a secure and unique system of exchange”. PayfortheA.com protects your money by acting as a mediator between both the Seller and Buyer. Once a bid is accepted, the Buyer submits payment to PayfortheA.com via Paypal. This money is essentially held in escrow until the work is completed by the Seller. Once the Buyer verifies the work has been satisfactorily completed, the funds are released by PayfortheA.com into the Seller’s Paypal account.
Although some people might have praised the website, calling it “Simple, reliable, and engaging. PayfortheA.com is clearly the best homework site on the web”, but I just don’t really like the way it’s being portrayed as a site that helps others do their homework in return of money. I would be utterly shocked and frustrated if I were to find out that my classmate sitting beside me pays money to people to get their homework done without spending time and effort on it. That’s kind of unfair, you know.
Yes, the co-founders of PayfortheA didn’t state in the ‘About’ or ‘FAQ’ page it’s a homework site that allows users to get paid by helping others to complete their homework. Instead, they claimed that “PayfortheA.com is a peer to peer network for members of the academic community to come together and share knowledge for their mutual benefit. Students may use the website to seek help with their school work, or they may use the website to help others do the same.”
However, from the submissions of assignment by students I see on the homepage, it gives me a perception that the ‘sellers’ are rich lazy bums, paying money to financially-strapped gifted students in exchange for the completion of their homework so they have more time for relaxation. They are symptomatic of a lack of morals (like no honesty) in our society. It’s kind of a disgrace to our education system.
Maybe an improvement to the current PayForTheA system could be something like this: Students who require help on their homework can still ask for assistance on the site. Instead of wanting others to do their entire piece of assignment in exchange for money, it would be better to ask for a little help. For example, we can provide links to relevant sources to assist the students in their research, give them a short paragraph of information, or even relating our personal thoughts, opinions, and ideas to them. In return, if the students find the information given to them are useful to their work and are grateful to the volunteers, they can donate a few bucks or buy them a cup of coffee.
Overall, PayForTheA is a pretty simple and easy-to-use site but the folks there still need to work hard on certain aspects. Good luck!