They’re outraged, furious, incredulous and deeply worried.

The case of the Redwood City father who’s suing because his son was dropped from a class for cheating has struck a nerve with readers, who have emailed, phoned and posted their discontent online.

Jack Berghouse’s lawsuit against the Sequoia Union High School District has disturbed people’s sense of fairness and decency as well as their belief in the importance of teaching character and ethics in young people who will inherit the nation’s leadership.

“We should be able to take the consequences for our choices,” said Annalys Berraje, of Soquel. “I think it’s terrible that people wink at things that ultimately destroy the value of the character of the nation.”

Berghouse’s son and three other students were dropped from a sophomore honors English class at Sequoia High School in Redwood City for copying and sharing homework. The four students were transferred to a lower-level but still college-preparatory class. Berghouse filed a suit earlier this month, and called the news media to say his son’s due process rights were violated. He seeks to have his son readmitted to the honors class.

Berghouse said that not taking the class, which leads to a rigorous curriculum known as the International Baccalaureate, would harm his son’s future, including the possibility of the youth not getting admitted to Ivy League schools.

Besides the cheating, which is widespread among the highest-achieving students in the Bay Area, people worry about the lesson they see Berghouse transmitting to his son, who is not being named because he is a minor.

“The question might be what is more important: learning to do right or getting into the best school so they can get ahead?” wrote Pat Martin, of Pacifica.

The issue of cheating in school has become an explosive one nationally. Society seems to have arrived at a difficult crossroads: School kids — including those with top grades — not only cheat with great regularity, but they express trouble understanding what’s the big fuss? Why are adults so upset? Meanwhile, older generations are stunned and frightened by the apparent lack of ethics built into today’s young people.

This worry is especially present in those who have navigated the minefields of parenting and teaching — the ones who have to deal with kids’ transgressions, even when it’s difficult.

“A lot of us have raised children, and when they do something like that, they deserve to be punished,” said Terry Jordan, of Portola Valley. “They don’t deserve to have their parent stick up for them.”

Wasting resources

Susan Keely, who runs child care programs in Red wood City — and has many former students attending Sequoia’s International Baccalaureate program — echoed that. “We teach our kids not to cheat or lie or steal or bully. We teach kids to be good community members and good citizens.”

What’s more, Keely wrote, she’s upset that Berghouse “is forcing the district to use precious resources which should be used in the classroom, to defend a policy that should not have to be defended.”

One Redwood City mother contrasted Berghouse’s reaction to her own experience. After her son got caught cheating on a test in December, he was given a zero on the exam, a D-minus in the class and prohibited from continuing the second semester. He also had to inform all the colleges to which he’d applied.

“His wonderful teacher called me a couple of days later to discuss the situation, clearly very uncomfortable and painful for him. My reply was a very genuine, ‘THANK YOU,’ ” wrote the mother, whom the Mercury News is not naming in order to protect her son’s identity.

“In my opinion, the very worst thing that could have happened would be for my son not to get caught. I far prefer that he learn this extremely valuable life lesson now, and not later.”

Among teachers and parents, the Berghouse case illustrates what they see as overprotective, intrusive and just plain wrong parenting, which they partly blame for the rise in dishonesty.

“Cheating has become the norm,” said Darrell Linthacum, 82, who teaches chemistry at West Valley College in Saratoga. Now in his 59th year of teaching, Linthacum said cheating increased exponentially after 1990. He blames parents who do their children’s schoolwork, imported cultural values that permit cheating, the proliferation of technology, the press for A’s and inaction on cheating by schools.

“These young people are so insistent on getting into what they call prestigious schools, they’ll do anything to get in,” said Linthacum, who taught many years in high school. “I feel sorry for the kids. In many cases, it’s parents pushing kids.”

And, he said, because many selective universities have no-fail policies, students who may have cheated their way in will stay in, unless they’re caught doing something outrageous.

No tolerance

In contrast, any West Valley chemistry student caught cheating gets an F — as one did just three weeks ago. “I never fail a student for poor work, if they’ve worked. The only time I’ve failed a student is if they’ve cheated,” said Linthacum.

Students taking tests must use numbered department-issue calculators and may bring only pencils into the room. In the community college’s chemistry department, he thinks cheating is rare.

“We get one instance of cheating,” the student gets caught, he said, and “word gets out very, very rapidly.”

Linthacum concedes that in many schools, teachers who want to discipline for dishonesty don’t get backing from administrators, who may be pressured by parents.

Clearly, schools relying on students’ honesty may not realize the depth of a problem. Helen Harmon, of Atherton, recalled that “schools often find that the problem with their honor system is that the teachers have the honor and the students have the system.”

The suit against Sequoia opens up endless possibilities for parents, Rachel Mercer, of Marin County, wrote. “Jack Berghouse’s efforts have spurred us to consider suing our school district for not providing clear guidance and motivation for our son, a senior, to become valedictorian of his class.”

But seriously, “my view of success may be skewed,” she wrote. “I do not think it is about being wealthy nor do I think it is being poor. It is defined by who you are as a person, how you choose to live your life and contribute to the world. Using those standards, I am confident my son will be a success. I hope that one day Mr. Berghouse will be able to say the same about his son.”

Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at Twitter.com/NoguchiOnK12.