To think parents completing their childrens A level work is unfair.

[GlamGiraffe]

I dont mean helping a bit, I mean doing the coursework themselves.

DS is in the final year of a levels and goes to a school with a particularly high population of parents who are artists, designers etc by profession. He is battling to complete his work for both art and dt and despite working away at school and home is not managing to keep up to anything near the same level as a lot of the students. Recently they have been laughing and commenting about how their parents do all of their work, one girls mother apparently has written more than 80% of her history of art essay alone which comprises a significant proportion of the mark, another boys mother has produced all of his DT work and produced all the drawings etc. These are just as examples of the type of things that are happeneing).

I am aware we all try to help our children but surely there has to be a line (And we dont all have the same suitable skills). Children are not being marked against their peers any longer. A different marking system needs to be instigated. Perhaps smaller projects only carried out in school?
Am I unreasonable to think the system is now ridiculously unfair?

Or no, obviously it never happens and the tutor is a pathological liar. Do you prefer that explanation?

I think if she said that most parents regularly phone her then either she is lying or she is being very professional and potentially breaking the law.

professional unprofessional

Dh's parents were of an income in the 80s which did not entitle dh to much grant. They refused to contribute, which necessitated dh taking out a very expensive bank loan. He'd have been better off with the system now. (We, however, are not!!)

Back to the OP: I don't think there is much effect on A Levels, as only a few subjects remain which contain an element done in one's own time. Of course a lot of parents help out during the course, but in the final exam it's up to the student. With degrees some institutions appear to be less than robust in rooting out cheating, but I suppose it's not in their interests to lose an income stream.

It’s embarrassing for the kids. I wouldn’t have wanted to admit my mum did my work at 18, we were all proud of our own stuff and quite competitive about it. Makes the kids seem like quite sad individuals actually.

woodchuck I don't think it was the norm to go to university in the 1980's. Even for people who had the capability. It was possible to go but in many families it wasn't the norm. I went in 1992 and was the first person in my family to do so. Grants were available in the 80's and for part of the 90's, which don't exist anymore and which were massively helpful. As you say, most people got something. Iirc in the 80's students could sign on over the summer holidays. That's got to have taken the pressure off for poorer parents. Wealthy families had more of an expectation of going to university imo.
And if you didn't go, you still had a good chance of getting a decent job because there were other routes to a good career, which seem not to be so prevalent now. So parents are sending kids to university because they think they have to in order for them to get a good job. And the numbers of kids at uni have increased dramatically. This creates an obligation for parents, even if it isn't legally enforceable. Parents are very aware that if they they don't make up the shortfall, their child is at a material disadvantage to all their peers who do go to university. The state won't step in if parents refuse to help. So the child doesn't go.
And of course, university accommodation costs are really expensive now. I don't think the experience is at all the same now as for a student, or their parents in the 80s.
I also think back then that there was a lot more faith in these institutions to do a good job. Parents are maybe better informed now - the internet lets parents know what is going on. So they want to see that their money is being well spent.
Given the increase of no platforming in universities and bullying of staff and students whose thinking doesn't conform, I can honestly understand why parents feel entitled to email tutors and ask questions.

I don't think it was the norm to go to university in the 1980's. Even for people who had the capability. It was possible to go but in many families it wasn't the norm.

It was pretty normal to go either to a university, Polytechnic or College of higher education in the 80s. The difference now is that they're all called universities and while they are taking more students there isn't a huge increase in the total number of people going on to higher education paired with the 80s. Higher education certainly wasn't just for the wealthy.

And of course, university accommodation costs are really expensive now. I don't think the experience is at all the same now as for a student, or their parents in the 80s.

Accommodation is certainly more but other things such as food is much less in real terms. It's the same for everybody.

I remember being in university in 1992 and could just about pay my rent and food costs from my loan. I had some left which I topped up by working pt. When ds went, the loan didn't cover his rent, let alone anything else.
I don't remember food being very expensive but then I wasn't buying lots of meat wine etc.

It was a whole different experience in the 80s, certainly. The fashion was very much to live like the Young Ones (even if you came from a comfortable background...) and it was a badge of honour to have the most grotty student accommodation and the worst landlord. My hall of residence was quite nice but certainly no en suites and there were smoking floors .People drank (to excess) in the cheap union bar and ate utter crap. It was also fashionable to dress in a charity-shop overcoat and to mooch around a la Morrissey.

Student lifestyles are 1,000,000% better than in the 80s (but a lot less fun!).

I remember being in university in 1992 and could just about pay my rent and food costs from my loan. I had some left which I topped up by working pt. When ds went, the loan didn't cover his rent, let alone anything else.

But that's just your personal experience. Just because your parents didn't have to contribute in order for you to live it doesn't mean everyone else was in the same situation. I couldn't have gone to university without my parents paying and that was in the 80s. DH didn't need a parental contribution in the 80s because he had a full grant but then he wouldn't need parental contribution nowadays either as he would get full loan. Most people are in between then and now. In fact no parent has paid the full maintenance costs now as some had to then.

It was a whole different experience in the 80s, certainly. The fashion was very much to live like the Young Ones (even if you came from a comfortable background...) and it was a badge of honour to have the most grotty student accommodation and the worst landlord. My hall of residence was quite nice but certainly no en suites and there were smoking floors .People drank (to excess) in the cheap union bar and ate utter crap. It was also fashionable to dress in a charity-shop overcoat and to mooch around a la Morrissey.

Student lifestyles are 1,000,000% better than in the 80s (but a lot less fun!).

I think there's a lot more pressure now. But I would love to be a student today - WiFi in your room with access to uni resources whenever you need them, having an en suite and not fighting with 4 other girls over the last of the hot water. Costa on every campus. Even supermarket deliveries. I used to walk miles to the shops.
Anyway, I'm de railing the thread, sorry OP

I think this whole thread just goes to demonstrate the difference in personal ethics between different people.
I had no help with any of my education, doing well and succeeding is a matter of personal achievement and pride. I want the same to be the case fo my children. Ivthough I am more than capable of doing much of my sons practical art and design work to a high level, its for him to do to prove to himself whilst I do gave to point out his schedule from time to time as he gets sidetracked I yont think that counts as helping. The two most recent things he has completed with so much gompleyedn I am so happy have been really well received, the teachers realise they!are his own foing as he can speak in so much depth about them. They have commented they know who the "cheats" are.
In my world, if you font experience things yourself, you never gain experience, never learn and never develop. So many people think school exams are just tests, to me they are a path a along the route of self development, every little bit teaches you a different bit of skill you can use somewhere in life by not doing the work themselves, the only people who are being cheated are the candidates themselves I think in the long term