Nope, we aren’t even kidding.

A 16-year-old student from North Carolina was suspended for three days last week after using the term “illegal alien” in his English class. The student used the phrase to gain a deeper understanding of an assignment and was penalized for it, The Carolina Journal reported.

The student’s mother, Leah McGhee, noted that the English teacher assigned numerous vocabulary words during class, one of which was “alien.” To gain clarity, McGhee’s child asked, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”

Perfectly valid question to ask for clarification if you ask me but, not everyone thought so. Apparently another student was offended by the McGhee child and threatened to fight him. The teacher called in the assistant principle and ultimately school staff decided that McGhee’s comment was “offensive and disrespectful to classmates who are hispanic.”

The child was suspended for three days but it appears that the one who threatened to fight him had no punishment or consequence. Additionally, as The Carolina Journal noted, this could damage McGhee’s record as he looks to apply to colleges and for scholarships.

“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question,” McGhee said. “I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries needs green cards, and the term ‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary.”

The McGhee family is working with an attorney to rectify the situation but so far the assistant principal is refusing to remove the infraction on the student’s record.

“Because of his question, our son was disciplined and given THREE days OUT of school suspension for ‘racism,’” his mother wrote about the situation before adding, “He is devastated and concerned that the racism label on his school record will harm his future goal of receiving a track scholarship. We are concerned that he will fall behind in his classes due to being absent for three consecutive days.”

This is absolutely outrageous.

Even the State Senator Steve Jarvis (R-N.C) said, “I do not see that that would be an offensive statement, just in getting clarification” but the school has remained firm in its disciplinary action towards McGhee. The student handbook, as The Carolina Journal noted, says that “schools may place restrictions on a student’s right to free speech when the speech is obscene, abusive, promoting illegal drug use, or is reasonably expected to cause a substantial disruption to the school day.”

So using the word “illegal alien” to ask about illegal aliens is somehow offensive?

The public school system has become complete garbage.