COCHIN, India — A few stars are still twinkling in the inky pre-dawn sky when Koyampurath Namitha arrives for work in a quiet suburb of this south Indian city. It's barely 4:30 a.m. when she grabs a cup of coffee and joins more than two dozen colleagues, each settling into a cubicle with a computer and earphones.
More than 7,000 miles away, in Glenview, Ill., outside Chicago, it's the evening of the previous day and 14-year-old Princeton John sits at his computer, barefoot and ready for his hourlong geometry lesson. The high school freshman puts on a headset with a microphone and clicks on software that will link him through the Internet to his tutor, Namitha, many time zones away.
It's called e-tutoring -- yet another example of how modern communications and an abundance of educated, low-paid Asians, are broadening the boundaries of outsourcing and integrating overseas workers into the minutiae of American life, from replacing your lost credit card through reading your CAT scan to helping you revive your crashed computer.
Princeton is one of thousands of U.S. high school students turning to tutors in India.
"Hello Princeton, how are you? How was your test?" Namitha asks.
"Hello, yeah.... I'm good," Princeton replies. "It was good."
Namitha works for a company called Growing Stars, based in Cochin and Fremont, Calif. Princeton and his 12-year-old sister, Priscilla, each meet with their online math teacher twice a week.
The chitchat ends quickly, and a geometry worksheet pops up on Princeton's computer screen.
Teacher and pupil speak to each other, type messages and use digital "pencils" to work on problems, highlight graphs and erase mistakes. Princeton scrawls on something that looks like a hyped-up mouse pad and it shows up on Namitha's screen. He also can use a scanner to send copies of assignments or textbook pages that he needs help understanding.
"Here we go," Princeton says, as they begin a lesson on such concepts as parallel lines and complementary angles in the quiet coziness of the family's suburban home. Above him, on the desk, sit plastic figurines of Mickey and Minnie Mouse and the Statue of Liberty. On the walls are framed photos of his family, including his grandparents, who -- by coincidence -- live in southern India.
His mom, Bessy, brings him orange juice and cookies.
