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The exercise of academic freedom may historically be the most apparent embodiment of teachers' discord with their administrations. The often highly-contested rights of teachers to appraise curriculum and/or teaching methods and then in turn make adaptations based on a perceived need are akin to many labor disputes throughout history; a select group seeking a certain level of autonomy is pitted against a pre-existing standard of rules, values, or mores.

Teachers who have assumed the role of plaintiff in cases arguing their academic freedom have often contended their employers breached their First Amendment rights. This conclusion can be easily formulated by a teacher/plaintiff given the notion that there is subject matter being delivered to an audience, which creates an issue of public concern. The aforementioned, however, is not a carte blanche endowment in terms of academic freedom. Judge Clark of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals noted, "A teacher's free speech protection, even as to a matter of public concern, is not absolute" (Kirkland v. Northside Independent School District, 1989).
At the most basic level, teachers will likely find their academic freedom restricted if they attempt to modify or ignore board-approved curricula, as was the case for Timothy Kirkland in 1989. Kirkland was a history teacher who in 1986 replaced the district-approved reading list for his assigned course with his own list and was subsequently not rehired. As to Kirkland's argument that his First Amendment rights were abridged as he was speaking to a matter of public concern, Judge Clark replied,
issues do not rise to a level of "public concern" by virtue of the speaker's interest in the subject matter; rather, they achieve that protected status if the words or conduct are conveyed by the teacher in his role as a citizen and not in his role as an employee of the school district (Kirkland v. Northside Independent School District, 1989).
The Circuit Court's opinion in Kirkland v. Northside Independent School District would imply that not all speech on matters of public concern is created equal. After Marvin Pickering criticized his district in a newspaper editorial for what he believed to be excessive spending at both Lockport, IL high schools, the resulting Supreme Court case defined a public employee's right to speak on matters of public concern while acting within their professional duties (Pickering v. Board of Education, 1968). A very recent Supreme Court decision outside

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