Intro to Tutoring

Throughout much of my academic career, I've been known by my peers as "the smart girl." Classmates would see me in class answering questions correctly, or notice my high test grades, and would ask me to help them with their work. I use the word "help" loosely, as much of the time, this help consisted of me doing most of the work, while they either sat idly by and watched or simply copied me step-by-step. I didn't really mind this, since it was always work that I would've had to have completed anyway, and I felt important and intelligent knowing that all my friends (and many non-friends) came to me seeking aid. Sure, they were taking my effort and passing it off as their own, but to be honest, I didn't really care. I had people handing me their math homework at lunch, people gesturing to me from across the room during Spanish tests, people telling me that I could lead the physics group project - all because, in their eyes, I was the brightest and hardest working (not to mention the most easy-going) person in their class.
It was only once I hit senior year in high school that giving away answers began to irk me. Why should my cheating peers be entitled to the same grade as me when I was the one who really earned it? I remember one instance of annoyance in particular, in AP English Lit, when a classmate of mine, who had regularly asked me for "help" over the years, told me she had applied and gained admittance to none other than our own Florida State University. The first thing I thought was: how the hell did this girl get into FSU, one of the top schools in the state, the school that I myself worked so very hard to get into? I couldn't help but think that, if I hadn't carried her through some of the classes we'd shared together, she wouldn't have met FSU's high standards. That may sound conceited, because obviously this girl had to take her own SAT's and write her own application and whatnot, but it really bothered me to think that her transcript showed grades in difficult classes that she hadn't earned honestly. I began to realize that, while this classmate of mine had been wrong to ask for answers in the first place, I had also been wrong to give them away, whether it had been willingly or begrudgingly.
After reading the first two assigned chapters of Longman, I was reminded of this ex-classmate of mine, and I began to wonder if she had ever been forced to attend a tutoring session. All those years of simply copying work, rather than learning to do it herself, probably left her wildly underprepared for college-level material, possibly leading her to her own school's tutoring center. (Side note: she did not end up attending Florida State.) This got me thinking that I was partially to blame for her lack of preparedness; if I hadn't been so lenient with my work, if I had taught her to fish instead of just handing the fish to her, perhaps she would've been better equipped to handle college. I know, in reality, it's not my fault that this girl didn't want to do her own work, and she may very well have found someone else to give her answers if I had refused her, but I can't help feeling partially responsible. I hope that, with this class, I can learn to use my tutoring powers for good instead of evil, and can begin to help my peers with their intellectual process, rather than solely with their final product.