Kid Caught Cheating; Gets Kicked out of Class; Father Sues School

Yes .. you read that correctly. The father and son both signed a paper for the school at the start of the year that said any cheating would be punished. The kid gets caught cheating and gets kicked out of the honors English class he was cheating in. The father then sues the school saying that being kicked out of honors English will have a negative impact on the kids future.

So .. is this the father looking out for his sons rights and his sons future?
Or is this substandard parenting and/or entitlement gone wild?

Mercury News

The boy's father, Jack Berghouse, does not dispute that his son copied his English homework from another student, who also was kicked out of the honors class for the offense. But Berghouse said he believes the punishment is disproportionate to the offense and will jeopardize his son's academic future.

"He knows it's wrong," Berghouse said Tuesday. "You cannot imagine the mental and emotional penalty that has been inflicted upon him. He is a student who has a chance to do just about anything, and he thinks that this could take that away from him. We've offered several penalties, anything other than being kicked out of the english program."

LA Times

According to an interesting story in the San Mateo County Times, this trend has reached something of a peak at a high school school where a father is going to court to keep his son from facing the school's discipline for cheating. No one is denying that the boy broke the rules, copying essay homework from another student, but the father's argument is that the punishment -- throwing the sophomore out of the English honors course -- is too harsh because a regular English course doesn't impress colleges as much as the more rigorous class. The teen will still be allowed to enter the schools advanced International Baccalaureate program in the fall, and the cheating will not show up on any records sent to colleges, according to the newspaper.

They signed an agreement. His son broke the agreement. He got punished. His dad is a schmuck who feels he and his son are entitled. Simple. Instead, he should have actually punished his son to teach him that cheating will not get you anywhere in a respectable life. Instead, he is teaching his son that cheating is perfectly acceptable.

S&F!!

They should give them ALL trophy's,and curve the grades,based on his score. EVERYONE'S a winner,in our Politically correct world. Maybe he should tell the school district,he was bullied into cheating............

reply to post by FlyersFan


Amazing. I would think, if the courts haven't gone crazy that this would clear the school: "The father and son both signed a paper for the school at the start of the year that said any cheating would be punished." They both knew what would happen.
What happened to taking responcibility for your actions? Guess that went out the window.

Originally posted by DerbyCityLights
... he is teaching his son that cheating is perfectly acceptable.

It would certainly seem so. The son was caught cheating and so if he doesn't face the punishment then he'll think he can cheat (or whatever) throughout life and not have to face the consequences. What kind of work ethics will this situation instill upon the kid?

My thought .. the father may be living vicariously through the kid. IF the kid doesn't get into the fathers choice of a college, then the father sees this as his own failure and not the sons failure who is cheating.

reply to post by FlyersFan



Its just bad parenting anyway you look at it. I blame about 80% of the root of worlds problems on bad parenting. If the kids aren't taught to know better, then they pass that on to their children and so on.

Cheating is wrong

Ok now, if you are a school kid and you cheat they all want to throw the book at you.

If you are the POTUS it is all ok, cheat and lie all you want to. I refer you to Monica L and POTUS

If you are big business, hell, just lie to your hearts content.

It seems that we have to learn not to cheat before we are taught how to do it properly, like have a lot of lawyers on the payroll.

Cheating is wrong


P

I think the father/son should be adhere to the agreement. It's pretty disheartening though to realize that another parent has passed up another teachable moment.

Well, at least we can easily understand why the kid cheated and expected to be absolved. The only mystery is how badly did Dad cheat and how many times did the kid witness him cheating.

This is the father's way of reasssuring himself that HIS cheating wasn't that bad, and that HE didn't teach any irreversible negative behaviors to his son. This isn't just a lesson for the boy.

Just another case of a parent defending their kids even when they are caught with their hand in the cookie jar!

This kid will not have a problem getting into college even if he has been caught cheating, so the Dad needs to be just that......a Dad and hold his son's feet to the fire for being a cheater.

It's really a big laugh.

"English honors class"

The kid obviously didn't even learn enough English to know what "honors" mean. His dad has no clue either.

That being said, I'm certain the kid has a great future in politics.

I'm wondering if colleges in his area will be taking note of his name in case he sends in an application for acceptance. I'd be willing to bet there is a red flag on his name somewhere now ... a private 'black list' .... can't prove it ... but I'd bet it could be true.

This dad is out of line. The kid should be expelled from the "honors" program ...... end of story kid ....

because a regular English course doesn't impress colleges as much as the more rigorous class

and cheating does? Doubt if they would know about it anyway.

It would appear that the child does not have what it takes to be in the 'honors' class.

I am amazed at the lack of insight in this thread. Yes the kid was wrong, should he learn a lesson from this instance,yes. Will being removed permanatly from the class impede further success, yes. Maybe someone could approach the situation with less then a knee jerk reaction and understand he is just a kid. Compassion is the answer every time.

Originally posted by onequestion
I am amazed at the lack of insight in this thread. Yes the kid was wrong, should he learn a lesson from this instance,yes. Will being removed permanatly from the class impede further success, yes. Maybe someone could approach the situation with less then a knee jerk reaction and understand he is just a kid. Compassion is the answer every time.

No I think a little less understanding and a little more judgement is what is needed. Kids need to learn that the real world isn't a giant hugbox.

Surely he was kicked out of an "American" lesson, because in English, in England where it comes from, honor is spelled honour.

The main issue I have with this is that it's always someone else that is to blame. Nobody takes personal responsibility for their actions. The rules on cheating are pretty clear. While politicians lie through their mouths every time they open them, big businesses lie and cheat their way to millions, our Police forces are corrupt, and so on and so on, it doesn't hurt to take a personal stand, decide for yourself that truth and justice are the way forward, that you don't want to be judged by the poor standards held by others, and remain true to yourself and others.

Then you find out later in life if you;d cheated, lied, deceived, stolen, being corrupt, and so on you would now be incredibly rich rather than just getting by, worried what might happen next.

His big crime was getting caught.

Originally posted by onequestion
I am amazed at the lack of insight in this thread. Yes the kid was wrong, should he learn a lesson from this instance,yes. Will being removed permanatly from the class impede further success, yes. Maybe someone could approach the situation with less then a knee jerk reaction and understand he is just a kid. Compassion is the answer every time.

Did the cheating kid have compassion for the quality of his education? Did the father have compassion towards raising his kid honorably? Did either of them have compassion in regards to adhering to the agreement the both signed?

Originally posted by onequestion
Maybe someone could approach the situation with less then a knee jerk reaction and understand he is just a kid. Compassion is the answer every time.

- Sure he's a kid ... but a kid needs to be taught right from wrong.
- It's not 'knee jerk' to expect the kid to adhere to the documents he signed.
- No one is saying 'grab the torches and pitchforks'. They are saying .. hold him accountable.
- Compassion is not the answer every time. In this case, however, the compassionate thing to do is to hold him accountable, take him out of honors class, and teach him that his actions have consequences. THAT is the compassionate thing to do .. not to just whitewash over it and let him get away with it. Otherwise, he learns nothing.

reply to post by FlyersFan


When you F up........you are responsible ....not somebody else....

Why can't grown adults realize this ?

Once again....as a whole, we are a dumb species.

The teen will still be allowed to enter the schools advanced International Baccalaureate program in the fall, and the cheating will not show up on any records sent to colleges, according to the newspaper.

But now, thanks to Daddy Dearest, the whole thing has made the national news and EVERYBODY will know that he cheated and got kicked out of the honors class.

Way to go there dad. Good job looking out for your kid's future.