Cheating rule number one: if you’re going to do it, don’t get caught. Rule number two: when you do, don’t deny it and make yourself look worse, or make a big deal about your punishment. Accept the consequences of your actions, and move on.

Okay, so not the best advice someone can give, but nowadays, cheating is so common that it’s become the norm. Most of us have cheated at least once during our lifetime—there is no point trying to deny it or make excuses.

Rarely does anybody get caught, but when we do, we’re overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and shame, so much so that we don’t really try to fight a teacher’s or school’s punishment because we know it’s well-deserved.

Expectedly, our parents will ground us—take our phones away, give us the death glare—or worse, the cold shoulder and “I can’t believe I raised you” speech.

So when a parent sues a school district over taking action against a student who cheated, we can’t help but raise our eyebrows.

In Northern Carolina, a parent has decided to sue his son’s school district after the sophomore at Sequoia High School in Redwood City was caught cheating in an Honors English class. Consequently, the school took steps to kick the student out of the Honors English class; however, according to the San Mateo County Times, the student will be allowed to enter the school’s advanced International Baccalaureate program in the fall. Additionally, the cheating incident will not appear on his records when he applies to colleges.

Honestly, what more can this student want? Sure, he might not be able to list “Honors English” on his transcript to whatever university he wants to apply to, but at least the universities would not be aware of his immoral behavior. With the incident making national news, his father has only done him more harm than good by making the cheating a public matter.

The bottom line is, the student risked cheating and got caught. Nobody, not even those who cheat regularly, can expect to consciously act immorally and not expect to face the consequences of their actions.

The father of the student asks that his son be allowed to make up for the cheating by helping out a teacher after school rather than getting kicked out of the program, but if the courts and district agree, then they will only be condoning unacceptable behavior.

Students cheat, yes, but those in charge of upholding policies should not let us get away with it—we’ll only take advantage of the fact and cheat more.

The fact that a parent is willing to take this issue to court, when his son is so clearly to blame, only sheds light on the reason why so many young adults have a hard time growing up and facing the real world.