Late-night messages from a tutoring student
- Kind
- Ethical dilemma
Prompt
You tutor math through an online tutoring company, and for the past year you have worked with a 16-year-old student twice a week. Company rules say tutors may only contact students through the company's platform. Last night at 11:30 p.m., he found your personal social media account and sent you a message. He wrote that his parents have been fighting every night, that he cannot focus on school, and that you are the only adult he feels comfortable talking to. He asked if he could message you there instead, because his parents check the tutoring platform. What would you do?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Professionalism and integrity
- Empathy and compassion
- Communication
How to approach this question
This MMI station on professional boundaries tests whether you can respond with care to a teenager in distress while weighing whether a private channel with a minor, hidden from his parents and the company, can be the right place for that support. Show empathy first: he reached out because he trusts you, and a cold reply could leave him feeling more alone. Name the company's rules, the parents' role and his safety as competing concerns. Weigh replying on social media, moving the conversation back to the platform, and involving the company or another trusted adult, then decide clearly. When the station adds pressure to keep his message secret, explain how you'd stay kind while holding to the decision you made and the reasons behind it.
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