Hate Your Homework? Buy It Online!

PARIS, March 5, 2009 — -- A new Web site selling homework to elementary and high school students may become a major hit in France's school playgrounds.

The Web site, faismesdevoirs.com (domyhomerwork.com), goes live today, offering to do students' homework within 24 to 48 hours, for a fee. It will cost students (and most likely their parents) $1.25 to answer three math questions, $12 for a detailed outline of an essay, $31 to get solutions to four physics exercises and $38 for a geographic paper.

With the launch of the site, under the slogan "You can't do it? We're here," transactions that previously took place on the sly in school playgrounds have now become an official business available on the Web.

"We make students aware of their responsibilities by putting an educational tool at their disposal," Stéphane Boukris, the site's founder, told ABCNews.com. "It's true this tool can be used in a bad way as well as in a good way."

"We don't provide just answers or corrected versions. We also provide elements, annotations for the students to understand how to do the exercise. There is a real reasoning to reach the solution of an exercise, which is explained to the student. Just like a private lesson," he explained.

But despite Boukris' explanation, the site is already facing a lot of criticism.

"I don't encourage in any way paying mechanisms allowing to render such services," France Education Minister Xavier Darcos told reporters yesterday following the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Parents and teacher unions are on the same wavelength, with many venting their frustrations on blog postings.

"When are we going to see a Web site goworkforme.com?" one teacher jokingly wrote.

"The Web site founder would show more intelligence by giving remedial courses ... in schools," a teaching assistant wrote.

Will the Students Pay?

Some students don't seem to be ready to break their piggybanks to get better grades.

"There is already Wikipedia," one unnamed student told France 2 TV. "There are other Web sites where answers can be found and which are free, and there are also other classmates to cheat on."

But regardless of the many speaking out against the site, the various reactions have for sure been a marketing boon.

"It's a great marketing coup," said Boukris, who heads a company specialized in home services. "There were 10,000 pre-enrollments before the Web site was officially launched. And today for its launch, the Web site is saturated and this confirms there is a strong interest."

A year ago, another site catering to students made headlines. Note2be.com offered a service for students to grade and evaluate their teachers. But after a judicial battle, the site was ordered to eliminate the names of the teachers graded by the students.

Boukris said his site will not meet a similar fate.

"My Web site is totally legal," he said. "I have a team of seven of the best lawyers working with me."