Education topic in U.S. Supreme Court Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Education topic in U.S. Supreme Court - Essay Example It was widely covered and debated because of its ridiculous name. In 2002, a student in Alaska held up the sign in question. It was quickly torn down by the school principal and the student was then punished by several days of suspension. The issue was a 1st amendment issue. Could an educator suppress students free speech? This was one of the first decisions of the Roberts Court and was closely watched as such. The judicial history of the case is as follows: The Alaskan rejected the case, but the Ninth Circuit found that the student’s first amendment rights had been violated. The phrase Bong Hits 4 Jesus was interpreted as a political expression. The Ninth Circuit distinguished political speech from a simply offensive remark, writing: â€Å"Also, it is not so easy to distinguish speech about marijuana from political speech in the context of a state where referenda regarding marijuana legalization repeatedly occur and a controversial state court decision on the topic had recently issued. The phrase ‘Bong Hits 4 Jesus’ may be funny, stupid, or insulting, depending on ones point of view, but it is not ‘plainly offensive’ in the way sexual innuendo is.† Frederick v. Morse, 439 F.3d 1114, 1119 (9th Cir. Alaska 2006). The case was then appealed to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion which found in favor of the school and against the student. The Court gave a very narrow ruling which declared that schools could reasonable restrict students freedom of speech if that speech was being used to encourage or endorse illegal drug use. Roberts wrote that the principal reasonable assumed the banner encouraged drug use and was therefore justified in removing it. While some interveners argued that the banner was a kind of political expression, Roberts wrote that the student’s lawyers didn’t make this argument. It could also have been argued that the

SWOT Analysis Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SWOT Analysis Strategy - Assignment Example he environment by identifying the strategies creating a firm specific business model that best aligns the organization’s resources and capabilities to the requirements of the environment in which it operates. The acronym SWOT stands for, as has been alluded, to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Each of these has a strategic implication to the business, and proper analysis will show a true picture of the organization’s place in the business environment. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the business entity directly controlled by it while opportunities and threats are external, and a company can only anticipate and react to the changes. As such, analysis is instrumental in strategy formulation and selection to pursue the optimum possible position. For success to be realized, strengths should be build upon, weaknesses rectified, opportunities exploited and protect against threats. Strategic planning is enhanced by SWOT analysis as it is a source of information for strategic planning to identify core competencies, and setting of objectives. From the knowledge of the past and present, the future can be comfortably planned (Pearce & Robinson, 2012). Let us consider each of the four substrata in the SWOT matrix. An organization’s strengths are either tangible or intangible qualities which enable it to accomplish its missions. They form the basis under which success can be laid and sustained. They include patents, brand names, good reputation, exclusive access to resources, technical know-how by employees, and distribution network. The firm must have distinct features giving it consistency. The employee expertise, process capabilities, finances, products/services with customer goodwill and brand loyalty form the foundation for the organization to thrive. These are qualities hindering the firm from achieving its mission and accomplishing optimum potential by hindering the organization’s success and growth. The absence of certain strengths