Running head: DISCRIMINATION AND ACADEMIC INTEREST IN TEACHING 1

Discrimination and Academic Interest in Teaching

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
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Discrimination and Academic Interest in Teaching

During the day to day activities in teaching, there arise some instances where another

adult has to be responsible for taking care of the children who are minors. In most cases, such a

requirement comes up when students are expected to travel away from home for a school trip or

are required to watch a film to complement their classwork knowledge. In such incidences, a

permission slip is necessary as it serves as a legal proof for the parent or guardian’s consent on

the child being away, or permission to watch the film.

With reference to the case in question, the board is not justified to suspend Martie Lyons

with or without pay. Lyons committed no offence since the students had been issued with

parental permission slips for the parents and guardians to sign off, which they duly did. In

addition, the teacher had taken the responsibility of splitting the girls and boys to ensure that

each group watched the film separately. For this reason, Martie Lyons has a legitimate claim for

a lawsuit against the board and the parents as well. In actual sense, the move by the parents to

demand the teacher to be fired acts as an invasion of Martie's academic interest. As a teacher,

she knows what is best for her students in terms of teaching methods, and abides by the law by

issuing the parental permission slips (Katz et al. 2016). In my opinion, a court of law would rule

in favour of Ms Martie Lyons because she did all that is required by the law when dealing with

minors. Moreover, the parents had already signed off the parental permission slip, which proves

that they were aware and okay with their children watching the film.
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References

Katz, A. L., Webb, S. A., & Committee on Bioethics. (2016). Informed consent in decision-

making in teaching practice. Teaching, 138(2), e20161485.