Better grades aren't exactly a legal defense for illegal sexual activity, but …

When it comes to having consensual sex with your teacher, hard work might pay off.

This is especially true in the case of former Utah English teacher Brianne Altice, who pled guilty last week to sexual abuse charges after being accused of having sexual contact with three boys aged 16 and 17 between January and September of 2013. She's currently serving a 2-to-30-year sentence.

However, at a recent hearing, she defended herself in a two-page written response by saying that the boys' grades "did improve" during the year they had sexual contact with her.

Better grades aren't exactly a legal defense for illegal sexual activity, but they do really help on college applications …

The boys were complicit in their actions and the sexual contact was consensual … probably even pretty cool for them. But, even if the sex you have with your smokin' hot English teacher is consensual, it's still considered sexual abuse if one of the parties is a minor, and rightly so.

According to Altice's statement, the boys stood up for her and would "thwart inappropriate comments directed at her" after it became clear what she was doing with them. She even wrote that the boys were so close to her they would ask for advice on their relationship with their parents. She said she told them “to communicate with their parents and continue to do their best in school.” … Looks like they did.

Salt Lake City's KTSU reports that Altice wrote she “had no evil or malicious intent to cause harm.” She just wanted the boys to walk away not with just a more in-depth understanding of the human anatomy, but with a competitive GPA that would prepare them for the real world.

Naturally, the boys' parent's weren't quite so terminally chill with the way Altice was helping their kids with schoolwork. Collectively, their parents filed a lawsuit against her and the school district, claiming the school did nothing when employees complained about Altice’s behavior with students.

However, the boys' good grades did get to stay on their transcripts, so for them, it looks like all that extracurricular work might have paid off?