Deck 8: What Are the Ethical and Legal Issues Facing Teachers

Question 1

According to Kenneth Howe, a teacher who strives to be ethical must have "an appreciation for moral deliberation." What does this phrase mean? Give an example to illustrate.

Answer 1

The text states that "appreciation for moral deliberation" means that the teacher must be able to see how a situation contains conflicting and competing moral interests. The teacher must be able to see the complexities of moral problems and take care that the rights of all parties are protected. Examples to demonstrate that definition will vary, but all examples should illustrate the teacher's ability to see moral problems as containing competing moral claims.

Question 2

A veteran teacher is suspected of drinking on the job. The principal confronts the teacher and apprises him of the process that will be followed concerning his hearing, retaining an attorney, and other facts. The teacher asks if he will be given the name of his accusers. According to the laws concerning procedural due process, how will the principal answer?

A) To prevent any possibility of retaliation, their identities will remain hidden.
B) The accusers' names will be provided if a preliminary investigation rules that there are reasonable grounds to suspect the teacher of drinking on the job.
C) The accusers' names will be provided to the teacher's attorney only after he has filed for them.
D) The accusers' names will be provided to him.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Shoshona and Patti are both tenured foreign (world) language teachers. In the Latin courses, which Shoshona teaches, there has been a 30 percent decrease in student enrollment. Patti has assigned numerous papers to students without ever grading them, has shown films in class week after week, and has frequently given the students a study hall. According to tenure law, what can administrators do regarding both teachers' future teaching assignments?

A) Because of tenure, Shoshona cannotbe laid off even if there is a reduction in force. However, despite tenure, Patti may lose her job if the administrators demonstrate that she is incompetent.
B) Shoshona can be laid off; however, Patti has a contractual right to teach and cannot be fired because of classroom performance.
C) Tenure protects and ensures the teaching jobs of both Shoshona and Patti.
D) Tenure does not protect the jobs of teachers who are proven to be incompetent or when schools have a reduction in force.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In practicing their profession, teachers frequently face issues that have ethical or legal dimensions. Several possible issues are listed below. Select one as the focus for your discussion. Decide whether the decision involves professional ethics or the law and explain the consideration. For your chosen issue, describe one solution that represents sound legal or ethical thinking.
a. One of your students appears to be abused at home.
b. You think you see a student cheating on a test. The evidence is fairly convincing, but there is room for doubt.
c. You write a letter to the editor of the local paper expressing your view that sexual preference is a private matter and should not be used as a basis for employment. Your letter elicits a response, and you would like to continue the dialogue in another letter. Your principal reports this civic activity to the superintendent.
d. You have used only one or two of your sick leave days this year, and today is the first warm, lovely day of spring. You would like to take what you privately call a "mental health day."
e. After months of good-faith negotiation, your professional association has determined that only a strike can persuade the school board of the teachers' seriousness about getting improved working conditions. The board continues to put off making any decisions and has said that working conditions are good as they are. You agree that the current board offers are not fair. The strike is supported by a clear majority of members. You feel very uneasy about joining it because you are by nature very reserved and quiet in public.

Question 5

When a community develops expectations about the conduct that people ought to exhibit, it is discussing which of the following?

A) Law
B) Due process
C) Ethics
D) Psychology

Question 6

As a social studies teacher strolls through the halls during lunch, he finds a group of students clustered around two boys who are fighting. When he intervenes to stop the fighting, the teacher must also be aware of

A) the right to due process.
B) the in loco parentis position.
C) his liability insurance.
D) the use of reasonable force.

Question 7

Duane teaches in an industrial city where residents are concerned about groundwater contamination. Duane is elected president of a citizens' environmental group that some residents consider controversial. Near the end of the school year, Duane's principal quietly tells him that he will not be offered a third-year teacher's contract because of his reputation as a "radical environmentalist." Which of this teacher's rights has been violated?

A) The everyday ethics of teaching
B) The right to substantive due process
C) The right to a teaching contract
D) The right to procedural due process

Question 8

How does the right to due process affect a school administrator's dismissal of a teacher? What is the difference between substantive and procedural due process?

Question 9

Willful attack resulting in harm to a person is called

A) battery.
B) liability.
C) injury.
D) assault.

Question 10

Mr.Kruczek listens attentively to his students and understands when they feel upset or anxious. Mr.Kruczekexemplifies which of the following characteristics of ethical teaching identified by Kenneth Howe?

A) Moral deliberation
B) Knowledge
C) Empathy
D) Moral insight

Question 11

Howe's six dimensions of professional codes of morality include

A) appreciation for moral deliberation and sincerity in purpose.
B) knowledge and courage.
C) subject-matter knowledge and sympathy.
D) reasoning and integrity.

Question 12

Name the landmark Supreme Court case where students had been suspended for wearing antiwar armbands. They took the issue to court, claiming that the school had interfered with their right to freedom of expression. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students, stating that their black armbands were a form of symbolic speech in protest of the (Vietnam) War and should not be prohibited.

A) Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
B) Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser
C) New Jersey v. T.L.O
D) None of these.

Question 13

In considering whether a teacher should be held liable for a student injury, which of the following facts will a judge consider most important ?

A) The pupil-to-teacher ratio in the classroom
B) Whether the teacher had established rules for the students
C) The age of the students in the teacher's classroom
D) Whether the teacher had determined the extent and severity of the student injury

Question 14

Explain current court interpretations of issues involving religion in schools. Mention specifically advocating prayer in school, religious clubs, and discussion of religious practices.

Question 15

A small group of angry parents threatens to sue a school board for their support of an English teacher and her choice of texts for her class, including the work of J. D. Salinger and Judy Blume. The parents claim that Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Blume's Forever are inappropriate to teach in school because of their subject matter. If this case reached the courts, what would a judge consider in deciding the case?

A) A review of the personal lives of both Salinger and Blume
B) The relevance of the two books to the formal course objectives
C) The literature selections of other teachers in the department
D) The merit and quality of each literature selections, as viewed by literary critics and scholars

Question 16

In which of the following instances is the teacher most likely to be held liable?

A) Two students begin to speak to each other hostilely. The teacher tells them to stay away from each other. Even though they appear to have calmed down during class, they begin fighting as soon as they leave class.
B) While a teacher is circulating through the classroom assisting students with their work, a student unexpectedly jumps out of her seat to show a friend a dance move. In doing the move, she dislocates her shoulder.
C) A teacher ignores two students who begin to wrestle playfully, and one of them breaks a wrist.
D) A student enters the teacher's class very angry about a fight he has just had with his father. In his emotional state, he puts his fist through a window, cutting his hand.

Question 17

Which of the following is the best distinction between ethics and law?

A) Ethics is based upon religion, whereas the law is not.
B) Law is primarily concerned with what people are required to do, whereas ethics is concerned with what people ought to do.
C) Ethics is a system of rules articulated to guide human conduct, whereas the law suggests what people should do.
D) Law deals with human rights, whereas ethics rarely does.

Question 18

To what extent is academic freedom available to public school teachers?

Question 19

In June, a non-tenured teacher has not been informed of her employment status for the following year. On August 16, she is informed that she will not be rehired by the school district because of her "ineffective classroom management." How has this situation violated the Supreme Court decision of Goldberg v. Kelly ?

A) The teacher was not given timely notice of her dismissal.
B) The teacher was not given a clear reason for her dismissal.
C) The teacher was not given a chance to improve her deficiencies in teaching.
D) The teacher was not given the chance to demonstrate her teaching abilities to the school board.

Question 20

Ms.Ikebe responds to students' papers with suggestions and encouragement. She carefully plans each lesson, even though she could take shortcuts. In this aspect, she demonstrates

A) minimum teaching competency.
B) adherence to the NEA code of ethics.
C) the everyday ethics of teaching.
D) the legal obligations of a teacher.