Heh, what I meant (and would do if it were me)was, to give it my best shot at improving him. But if he does not respond despite my efforts, I would detach myself a few steps. Ie, I would continue coaching him (it is, after all, my job) and do what my superiors wanted, but as far as the boy is concerned, I would not harbour any more illusions about changing him.

There are people who would stand up for what they believe in, even risk their jobs. I agree that this kid is just not worth the sacrifice.

I sometimes wish I was such a person. - I am not.
I have a hard enough time paying my monthly costs and I'm not a saint to risk my monthly income for someone who doesn't even appreciate.

A teachers job is to give the neccessary information and to act as a 'guide' but it's entirely up to student if he wants to learn anything or not. If a student fails a course it's just as much his fault as the teachers.

His parents don't seem to have very high expectations of him and I wonder what he does in school at all if he's not willing to learn.

I would continue to tutor him but I wouldn't have too much hope to change him. That's up to him and he have to learn to take some responsibility.

"Ich habe eine Schwester." (dunno if it's eine oder einen)

Exactly! I'm only coaching him out of school to "aid his learning efforts" except that there are none. I can give him homework and tests but regardless how he finishes them I cannot "fail" him because he has no "goal" to accomplish at my class. I probably will try to get in touch with his regular teacher and let you know how it turned out.

Sometimes I wonder about cases like this one: Why don't I tell the guy to die stupid if he wants to and concentrate more on the rest of my class? I guess I just can't give up on kids. Pretty pathetic. </font>[/QUOTE]Ah, well that information changes the situation. Didn't realize you didn't have control over the grading.