Measure For Measure :: essays research papers

Shakespeare's Measure for Measure can be seen as an early account of sexual harassment. While the issue of women's rights had hardly been explored at the time the play was first performed, Measure for Measure touches on issues of sexuality, independence, and the objectification of women. Despite these serious issues, the play is considered a comedy, and the story it tells is filled with amusing characters as well as broad sociological questions. The plot centers around the fate of Claudio, who is arrested by Lord Angelo, the temporary leader of Vienna. Angelo is left in charge by the Duke, who pretends to leave town but instead dresses as a friar to observe the goings-on in his absence. Angelo is strict, moralistic, and unwavering in his decision-making; he decides that there is too much freedom in Vienna and takes it upon himself to rid the city of brothels and unlawful sexual activity. Laws against these behaviors and institutions already exist, and Angelo simply decides to enforce them more strictly. Claudio is arrested for impregnating Juliet, his lover, before they were married. Although they were engaged and their sexual intercourse was consensual, Claudio is sentenced to death in order to serve as an example to the other Viennese citizens. Isabella, Claudio's sister, is about to enter a nunnery when her brother is arrested. She is unfailingly virtuous, religious, and chaste. When she hears of her brother's arrest, she goes to Angelo to beg him for mercy. He refuses, but suggests that there might be some way to change his mind. When he propositions her, saying that he will let Claudio live if she agrees to have sexual intercourse with him, she is shocked and immediately refuses. Her brother agrees at first but then changes his mind. Isabella is left to contemplate a very important decision. Isabella is, in a way, let off the hook when the Duke, dressed as a friar, intervenes. He tells her that Angelo's former lover, Mariana, was engaged to be married to him, but he abandoned her when she lost her dowry in a shipwreck. The Duke forms a plan by which Isabella will agree to have sex with the Angelo, but then Mariana will go in her place. The next morning, Angelo will pardon Claudio and be forced to marry Mariana according to the law. Everything goes according to plan, except that Angelo does not pardon Claudio, fearing revenge.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold and the Stranger Essay

Conflict Resulting From the Negative Effects of Rigid Societal Expectations in A Chronicle of A Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Stranger by Albert Camus Everyone has felt the pressure of societal expectations during their lifetime. The negative effects society brings on one’s life can lead to a feeling of rejection towards the people who do not conform to meet those standards. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, author of Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Albert Camus, author of The Stranger, both construct the external moral conflict of society versus the protagonist in order to critique the way society fails to accept the moral values of the people who differ from the norm. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez emphasizes the central conflict of society versus the protagonist, based on beliefs and values, through the controversy leading up to the murder of Santiago Nasar, which is based on family honor and pre-marital sex. When Pedro and Pablo Vicario ask their sister, Angela Vicario, who had stolen her virginity, her response is described as â€Å"She only took the time necessary to say the name †¦ and she nailed it to the wall with her well-aimed dart, like a butterfly with no will whose sentence has already been written. ‘Santiago Nasar,’ she said†(47). Describing Angela’s response as â€Å"only took the time necessary† indicates that she is trying to put the blame on Santiago, making him a scapegoat, in order to protect the true man who took her virginity before marriage. In the Latin American society, where the setting of the novella takes place, it is not acceptable for a woman to have pre-marital sex due to the beliefs and morals of Catholics. Santiago is represented as the butterfly â€Å"whose sentence had already been written†. Even though there is no evidence Santiago took Angela’s virginity, it is the twin’s duty to protect their sister. Therefore, Pedro and Pablo Vicario set out to kill the man who had stolen their sister’s virginity, Santiago Nasar, in order to protect their family. The twins tell everyone in town about their plan to murder Santiago, but the people in the community doubt their intentions: â€Å"twenty-two people declared they had heard everything said, and they all coincided in the impression that the only reason the brothers had said it was so that someone would come over to hear them†(51). The people in the town who â€Å"[coincide] in the impression that the only reason the brothers had said it was so that someone would come over to hear them† shows how oblivious the townspeople act owards a societal member’s life. Society looks past at the fact that a murder is about to occur, but focuses on the purpose; family honor, which is highly respected. Since it is unacceptable for a female to have sex before marriage, Santiago is viewed in a negative light by society because he is accused of taking the virginity of an unmarried woman. The debate surrounding Santiago’s death highlights the conflict between society and the protagonist, where Santiago is a man who is accused of committing an act that society does not accept. Albert Camus, in The Stranger, constructs the protagonist, Monsieur Meursault, as a man who has absurdist morals and values, which society does not accept. Meursault has an intimate relationship with Marie Cardona, a former typist, but the connection does not go beyond a physical attraction; â€Å"she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her† (41). By Meursault stating â€Å"it didn’t mean anything† and â€Å"I probably didn’t love her† highlights his absurdist views on life; he believes life contains no purpose, thus he cannot love Marie because loving Marie would give life a purpose, which Meursault does not believe. He simply associates with Marie, because he likes being around her. There is no need for an emotional connection because the physical appearance of her is satisfying enough. Absurdism is not accepted in society therefore it does not accept Meursault. He is an outsider in a world he did not choose. Meursault is a man who does not show his emotions very well, but instead focuses on his physical need; â€Å"I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings† (65). Meursault saying â€Å"that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings† emphasizes the simplistic life he live—a life without meaning. Showing emotions would signify a life with purpose, which Meursault does not believe. The Algerian society, in which the novella takes place, does not accept the type of lifestyle Meursault lives and believes every life should be lived with a purpose. Society’s expectations clash with Meursault’s values because his beliefs and outlooks on life are not accepted by society, which sets up the external conflict between the two. In the external conflict between society and the protagonist, Garcia Marquez emphasizes the negative effects society has on a person who goes against the social norm by showing the biased opinions towards the Pedro and Pablo Vicario regarding Santiago’s murder. After brutally stabbing Santiago to death, the Vicario twins sprint to the church to inform the priest of their barbaric act; â€Å"Both were exhausted from the barbarous work of death, and their clothes and arms were soaked and their faces smeared with sweat and still living blood but the priest recalled the surrender as an act of great dignity†(49). The priest calling the murder â€Å"an act of great dignity† shows how, in the Latin American society, family honor is highly valued, no matter how far it is taken. Even though the twins have committed the worst crime imaginable, it is acceptable because it was done in order to protect their family. Pedro and Pablo Vicario are viewed as meeting expectations, as opposed to Santiago, who fails to follow them. When the crime was brought to court, the twins had already won before it even started; â€Å"The lawyer stood by the thesis of the homicide in legitimate defense of honor, which was upheld by the court in good faith, and the twins declared at the end of the trial that they would have done it again a thousand times over for the same reason† (48). The lawyer stating the homicide as a â€Å"legitimate defense of honor† verifies that society values family honor over a man’s life. The court case represents the conflict of society against Santiago and since he goes against society’s values, Santiago ends up dying, indicating society’s victory. The twins do not receive any severe punishment, because of their intentions to protect their family. Through Santiago’s death, Garcia Marquez stresses the harmful effects society can have on someone whose beliefs differ from societal standards. Camus constructs Meursault’s trial to critique society’s lack of acceptance towards the people who do not meet expectations. Throughout the court case, Meursault is quickly judged by the prosecutor due to his actions concerning his mother’s death, â€Å"He said the truth was that I didn’t have a soul and that nothing human, not one of my moral principles that governs men’s hearts, was within my reach† (101). The prosecutor bluntly stating that Meursault â€Å"didn’t have a soul† and is incapable of having â€Å"moral principles that governs men’s hearts† highlights how society does not understand Meursault’s morals and values, thus critiques his character and neglects him. Meursault is looked down upon because of how he acted on the day of Maman’s funeral. He does not express feelings towards his mother’s death because he is an absurdist and believes death is inevitable. Society believes that there is purpose to every societal member’s life, and since Meursault shares absurdist views, he is not accepted by society. To close his final argument against Meursault, the prosecutor states, â€Å" ‘I ask you for this man’s head†¦never as strongly as today have I felt this painful duty made easier, light, clearer by the certain knowledge of a sacred imperative and by the horror I feel when I look into a man’s face and all I see is a monster. † (102). The whole trial is based around Meursault’s character, and him being called â€Å"a monster† stresses the fact that society is unwilling to accept anyone who does not follow the expectations. Meursault does not share the same views that society wants, and as a result, he is rejected because of his moral values. By asking â€Å"for this m an’s head† the prosecutor shows how society neglects the people who share different views and therefore want them out of society completely. Camus uses the trial and Meursault’s crime to emphasize the external conflict of society versus the protagonist, Meursault, to demonstrate how society does not accept people who share different moral values. The negative effects society has on the people who do not meet expectations are emphasized through the external conflict, based of moral values, between the protagonist and society in the Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Stranger by Albert Camus. Both novellas show the harmful consequence faced by the protagonist, who do not conform to societal expectations, which evidently resulted in death.

Black Female Executives in Corporate America Essay

Black female executives are a symbol of what determination and hope can achieve that despite the odds and perceptions, people can achieve anything they set themselves on regardless of their cultural backgrounds. Reaching the top for these women has been a journey which dates back way before slavery when women lived and followed the African traditional settings which governed every aspect of their lives. In this setting, the women were subordinate to their men and their duty was to look after their families. Evolution has since changed these perspectives after the civil war that liberated the black people such that they were able to own property and even work in state organizations. In addition, the African people had the power to be educated. Over the years, African women have continually struggled to be the best academically as well as professionally such that they have even outshone their fellow men. â€Å"By 1994, there were more black women as compared to the black men who were employed especially in white collar jobs in corporate America (Tucker, 1994). † Thanks to institutions like Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), there has been significant growth of blacks taking up leadership roles in corporate America (Benjamin, 84). In the managerial positions, black men are slightly more than the black women but still the number of women in managerial positions between the years 1982-1992 had increased by 64% (Tucker, 1994). This positive figure has encouraged other black women to undertake leadership roles hence adding up to the increasing figure. Black women representation in the corporate organizations cannot be compared to the rise of white women in the top managerial positions whose numbers have increased over the last decade. This is illustrated by 32% of white women managers who were executive leaders as compared to 14% African American women in similar positions who earned less than them in the year 2000 (Ely, 2003). This shows that as much as the black women are making it ‘big’ there are several factors that hinder their rise to such positions. â€Å"By the year 2001, African American women remained in the shadows and remained invisible hence they were ranked in the corporate businesses either according to gender as well as race (Bell & Nkomo, 2003). † Reasons for lack of black females in executive positions Though there are a few known black women executives in the corporate world it does not necessarily mean that they are not learned enough or that the positions are limited. The major issues limiting the black woman from getting to the top of the corporate ladder are gender and race. Certain stereotypes which are mostly negative are likened to the black female. â€Å"They are considered to be aggressive and very direct (Caver, 2002). † Such characteristics make them unsuitable for leadership positions in big organizations hence limiting their chances of advancing their careers. Black women are not exposed to educational opportunities like their male counterparts as well as white people. This is because most of them come from poor backgrounds and therefore their education is limited up to a certain level when the funds they have can allow. That is why they usually get casual jobs and work as subordinate staff in organizations. Another issue that has contributed to the lack of black females in executive positions is the perception that such positions are the strongholds of men hence organizations mostly employ male colleagues. These factors make it harder for the black women to be promoted to executive positions as they are not only judged by the way their race but also according to gender. Challenges the black women executives face The rise of the women in the corporate world does not really mean that it is all rosy at the top. Though the experience is rewarding some of them are frustrated. The few African American women in executive positions are faced with several challenges in the course of their work. They have to continually convince people and prove to their colleagues that they have what it takes to run organizations. To begin with their salaries are low as compared to those of their fellow black men in similar leadership positions. Most of the African American women in the top managerial positions are considered as vulnerable employees. They are given those positions that can be easily scrapped off when the company restructures itself (Tucker, 1994). They do not therefore get the chance to play major roles in organizations especially in terms of decision making as sometimes they do not have jobs to do. This makes them feel inactive and feel as if they were just put in those positions to enhance the good image of the companies they head as being good an equal employer. â€Å"Some companies just put the women up there so that they can show their corporate allies that they are not biased against any race or gender (Lamont & Molnar, 2002). † †¢ Lack of strategic relationships Relationships define how people will relate with each other in the organization. When the black women are not supported by their employers, then it becomes hard for them to relate with them in proper ways and this affects their work relationship. The relationship between black and white women in the workplace is also strained. This is because white women do not interact often with black women on organizational matters hence they have little knowledge on some of the racial perspectives; the black women have to deal with. â€Å"They feel white women do not care about black women issues and concerns (Caver, 2002). † This has made the black women feel betrayed by them and no wonder they do not relate with them well (Bell & Nkomo, 2003). This scenario has strained communication between the two groups and they never engage in constructive activities. They have been reduced to clicks that support their own members and rarely will they support the promotion of the opposite colleagues to such leadership positions. If the black women cannot relate well internally with their colleagues, it is therefore hard for them to form corporate relationships with people from other organizations as well as their clients as they do not have people within the organization to link them to other business relations. †¢ Lack of mentoring and support African American women are never mentored; and if, on a limited scale. â€Å"This is because they are thought to have nothing in common with their white counterparts as well as black men (Caver, 2002). † Moreover, it is difficult for the black woman to fit in the white male-oriented ‘positions’ which is limited by the negative, historical, sexual racism between black women and the white men (Benjamin, 2005). For this reason, they do not get to improve on their leadership skills hence it is hard for them to be promoted to higher positions. In addition, when other people will start performing better than them, they are said to be incompetent and therefore they risk losing their jobs. The society is also not showing support for the black women corporate leaders who have managed to beat all odds and be the best. This is more so seen in the African American community where people think that they use their high positions to intimidate them. No wonder it is hard for them to find suitable husbands as the males feel threatened. †¢ Trust issues The few black women executives who are there are not trusted to make strategic and informed decisions by other colleagues in the workplace and that is why they have to struggle so much to build this trust which takes a long time. This is why some black women who can no longer cope with the pressure resign from their jobs. This has led to an increasing number of black women quitting their jobs. This is why the CEO as well as other colleagues in the workplace are left to wonder if race determines commonality or whether gender connects across racial lines and if the black women have their own leadership style that helps them navigate in the hierarchy (Bell & Nkomo, 2003). †¢ Lack of access to business development opportunities Leaders need to continually sharpen their skills so that they are able to tackle problems that arise in the business cycle. Black women are usually sidelined in major activities and this limits their chances of growth in terms of acquiring skills and building strategic alliances. For example, a project may be designed which may entail people going for training but surprisingly, countable black women; if any, will be short listed. This makes them feel like an extra burden to the organization. †¢ Balancing work and personal life Just like all women, African American women have to place their families before everything else. They therefore have to ensure that they balance their personal lives as well as their works lest they fail in all of them. Sometimes it is not easy as in every place they are faced with issues and sometimes they do not have colleagues whom they can turn to for help. Impact on the black female work population The statistics might show that black women positions in leadership positions have increased but the experiences of African American women in such positions reveal another thing. Some women have said that they have watched their subordinate colleagues some who are not qualified be promoted to higher ranks while they, who have served the companies for longer periods, are stagnant in the same positions. â€Å"In addition, when they give ideas on anything, they are not taken seriously and this is adding up to their frustrations (Hesselgrave, 2009). † Such scenarios have made them feel diminished, have low self esteem and not feel like part of the organization. This has made them emotionally as well as psychologically disturbed as they cannot come to terms as to why so much hatred and seclusion is still in the society. The lack of back women executives in corporate America is not doing much to encourage young black women professionals to take managerial careers. They see on a daily basis on how their fellow black women in the corporate world are treated and nothing much is done to solve the issues. Some black women have had to succumb to offering sexual favors and bribes if they really want the positions. Such negative factors make the young ladies not wanting to be in such vulnerable positions hence they will opt to choose careers that they find pleasure in. Another impact is that organizations have been divided along racial and gender lines when ‘their own’ are not promoted to executive positions. This has inhibited progress in the organizations as decisions can not be made effectively because employees are not communicating and they are not performing well at their work because their issues are not being addressed. â€Å"This has also brought in unhealthy competition in the workplace as the different groupings of people have to find fault in each other so that they can use the raised issues as an excuse to make them appear better so that they can be favored (Ivancevich & Gilbert, 2000). † In some instances, it has led to the formulation of policies which the minority group in this case, the African American women, use to give them an edge over other colleagues. Recommendations Women of all races play a major role in corporate organizations and that is why they should be encouraged to take the top most leadership positions if they are qualified. Some of the factors that need to be considered in promoting African American women in leadership positions include: ? Encouraging more black women to pursue leadership positions Educating and sensitizing the young black girls at a young age is important so that they take up leadership courses. This will make them more open minded at an early. The Federal State therefore should ensure that there is equitable distribution of resources such that black children can access proper schools like the rest of the children in major cities. African American women also need to be trained on political skills so that they are able to lead people in the proper manner thus become competent. ? Equal treatment Affirmative actions and the formation of women movements have played a vital role in rallying for equal treatment of women. More needs to be done so that the women can feel like they are part of the organizations they serve. The managers should therefore diversify employee groups and continually monitor to see how they are progressing and help then overcome the challenges they face. â€Å"The top managers should also be able to identify black women who are skilled and help them grow within the organizations they head (Lamont & Molnar, 2002). † The human resource heads should therefore ensure that they recruit they staff equitably and not based on any kind of biasness so that when it comes to making decisions or selecting the right candidate for a particular top office, all the people will be represented therefore the right candidate will be chosen regardless of their back grounds. ? Respect and trust Respect starts with an individual when they identify their needs and they treat others the way they would like to be treated in return. Respect is a very important virtue that should be in every code of conduct since it determines how people will be treated. â€Å"Sometimes when white male superiors and black female subordinates as they are trying to amend their relationships they are faced with difficulties because of the lack of basis for identification which is mainly attributed to the fact that the motives behind them are not sincere (Thomas & Gabarro298). † Without respect, then there is no trust as individuals will not trust people who treat them badly. People therefore need to learn to respect black women because it is the only way that will help them salvage their relationships, ease communication and enhance understanding each other so that productivity of the company can improve. It is also advisable to find trust agents if the matters in the organizations are too complex for the members to solve. Having an independent party helping employees and management to solve their problems will be good as they will not be biased. ? Educating the other employees on the negative effects of discrimination is also a positive step towards creating room for black female executives. Conclusion Operations in organizations are changing slowly by slowly to accommodate cultural diversity and people are beginning to embrace the work done by the black women as well as other minority groups. Black women executives nowadays can be found in almost all departments in the workplace and have even gone a step further to head multinational organizations. â€Å"Even in the wake of civil rights and women movements which have helped bring about gender equality, black women executives still face many challenges. African American women need to work harder to face out racism especially in this ever changing diverse world (Burk & NCWO). †These women need to be supported in the work they do rather then being put down as they are also human and they deserve respect just like other individuals in similar positions in the society. Corporations therefore need to change their cultures and philosophies so that they attract more black women and retain them. Black women also need to show that they deserve the executive positions by being passionate about the jobs and ensuring that they are qualified for the positions. References Bell, E. L. J. & Nkomo S. M. (2003). Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity. Harvard Business Press, 5, 239, 5 Benjamin L. (2005). The Black elite: still facing the color line in the twenty-first century 2nd Ed. Rowman & Littlefield, p. 70 Caver K. A. (2002). Leading in black and white: working across the racial divide in corporate America. John Wiley and Sons, 78, 80, 81 Ely R. J. et al. (2003). Reader in gender, work, and organization, Wiley-Blackwell, 2003 p. 343 Hesselgrave B. (2009). Business and economics. Under the Glass Ceiling? Throw Stones! Retrieved on April 2, 2009 http://www. miller-mccune. com/business_economics/under-the-glass-ceiling-throw-stones-1023 Ivancevich, J. M. & Gilbert, J. A. (2000). Diversity Management: Time for a New Approach Journal of Public Personnel Management, Vol. 29 Lamont, M. & Molnar, V. (2002). The Study of Boundaries in the Social Sciences Annual Review of Sociology journal, p. 12 National Council of Women’s Organizations & Burk M. (2005). 50 ways to improve women’s lives: the essential women’s guide for achieving equality, health, and success World Library, 2005 p. 124 Thomas, D. A. & Gabarro J. J. (1999). Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America, Harvard Business Press, Tucker S. H. (1994). Black women in corporate America: the inside story; executive women discuss real-life workplace issues that face black women today Retrieved on April 2, 2009 http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_n1_v25/ai_15643636/

English Language Education in Japan

English Language Education in Japan In Japan, eigo-kyouiku (English-language education) starts the first year of junior high school and continues at least until the third year of high school. Surprisingly, most students are still unable to speak or to comprehend English properly after this time. Reasons for Lack of Comprehension One of the reasons is the instruction focusing on the skill of reading and writing. In the past, Japan was a nation composed of a single ethnic group and had a very small number of foreign visitors, and there were few opportunities to converse in foreign languages, therefore the study of foreign languages were mainly considered to obtain the knowledge from the literature of other countries. Learning English became popular after World War II, but English was taught by teachers who were trained under the method that emphasized reading. There were no qualified teachers to teach hearing and speaking. In addition, Japanese and English belong to different families of languages. There are no commonalities either in structure or words. Another reason in the Ministry of Educations guidelines. The guideline limits the English vocabulary that is to be learned during the three years of junior high school to about 1,000 words. Textbooks must be screened first by the Ministry of Education and result for the most part in standardized textbooks making the English language learning too confining. Recent Years However, in recent years the necessity has increased to communicate in English as the ability to listen and speak English is in demand. The students and adults who study English conversation have increased rapidly and private English conversation schools have become prominent. Schools are now also putting strength into eigo-kyouiku by the installation of language laboratories and the hiring of foreign language teachers.

Pell Grant Limits How Much Can You Get in Your Lifetime

Pell Grant Limits How Much Can You Get in Your Lifetime SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Federal Pell Grants are great resources for students who could use more help paying for school. Like all good things, though, there are some restrictions and rules around how you can use a Pell Grant. In this post, I'll explain: Exactly how much you can get from your Pell Grant Eligibility restrictions Limits on how you can use Pell Grant money Financial Limits: What's the Most You Can Get? As you may have expected, there is a maximum annual Pell Grant award amount ("What is the Pell Grant Amount? What is the Maximum Award?"). For the 2015-2016 academic year, the most you could receive if you're a full-time student is $5775.What you might not have expected is that there is also a minimum Pell Grant award amount: again for the 2015-2016 academic year, the least you could receive if you're awarded the grant is $600. In addition to annual maximum and minimum award amount,there's also a lifetime award maximum. Every year that you apply for the Pell Grant via the FAFSA(see "How to Submit a Pell Grant Application,"coming soon), you'll be eligible for a particular amount of money. Your lifetime maximum is equal to600% of your yearly eligibility, or about 6 years' worth of grant funding. Let's go over some examples to further explain what I mean: Student A Applies for the Pell Grant for her freshman year, and is eligible to receive$5,000 in funding. She only attends school in the fall semester, though, so she only has to pay for half a year of school. As a result, she only gets $2,500, or 50%, of the annual grant money that she was eligible for. Student A can apply for the Pell Grant the next year, and she still has 550% of her lifetime max (600%) available to her. Student B Wasn't eligible for the Pell Grant his freshman, sophomore, or junior year. His family's financial situation changes his senior year when he applies for the grant, and he is glad to find out he's eligible for $1,000 in funding. All of that money goes towards paying his tuition. Student B used 100% of the annual grant money that he was eligible for, so he has 500% of his lifetime max (600%) available to him. Student B graduates at the end of his senior year; even though he didn't meet his lifetime max, he's not eligible for the Pell Grant anymore because he received his bachelor's degree. You might have noticed that this lifetime limit seems a little high. If you go to school for your bachelor's degree, it should only take you 4 years, or 400% of your lifetimemax; unless there are special circumstances that prevent you from graduating within 4 years, you likelywon't have to worry about this lifetimelimit. The more you know about financial aid, the more you can talk yourself out of feeling like this. Eligibility Restrictions Along with the financial limits above, there are also eligibility restrictions that can disqualify you from getting a Pell Grant. I've broken this section up into two main parts: family financial eligibility, and student eligibility. What about family income limits for Pell Grant eligibility? So there are family financial limits for eligibility, but they're a bit more complicated than an arbitrary income cutoff. Eligibility limits for the Pell Grant are based on your family's Expected Family Contribution (EFC).Your EFC is generated when you submit your FAFSA ("How to Submit a Pell Grant Application," coming soon). If you want to estimate your EFC before you go through all the trouble of submitting your FAFSA, you can get more information here ("What is the Pell Grant Amount? What is the Maximum Award?" coming soon). If your EFC is at or below $5081 for the 2015-2016 academic year, you will bewithin the family income limits for the Pell Grant. If you meet all the other eligibility requirements, you will receive some grant money (so, between $600-$5775). By using your EFC, you can estimate about how much Pell Grant money you may be eligible for ("Pell Grant Calculator" coming soon). Are there restrictions on what type of student can get the Pell Grant? The short answer is: yes. You can read more about eligibility criteria for the Pell Grant here ("Pell Grant Eligibility and Requirements: Do you qualify?" coming soon). In a nutshell, the Pell Grant is meant primarily for low-income students who have a high school diploma or GED, but don't have a post-secondary degree (so, a bachelor's or vocational degree). If you don't demonstrate enough financial need, or if you already have a post-secondary degree, you likely won't qualify. There is no age limit to receive the Pell Grant. It's open to people who need help funding their education at any age. Limits to using your Pell Grant money There are two logistical parameters you should be aware of if you would like to apply for a Pell Grant: there are restrictions on where and how you can spend your Pell Grant money. Where You Spend Your Pell Grant When you apply to colleges or to vocational programs, make sure they participate in the Pell Grant program. The good news is that most legitimate colleges participate; if you want to confirm, simply call the financial aid office. How to Spend Your Pell Grant In many cases,the grant money won't even be paid directly to you; it will go straight to your school. Your school will then apply the grant money to charges on your account (e.g.tuition, room, and board charges). There may be differences in how schools process federal financial aid, though, so you can contact your financial aid office if you have further questions. In some circumstances, there may be leftover grant money after your schoolpays itself. If there is leftover money, it will be passed on to you in the form of a refund. There are restrictions on how you can use this refund money.It's meant to cover school-related expenses, including: Books Lab supplies Transportation expenses (including gas or a bus pass, but NOT includinga car) Even food! These usage restrictions are pretty serious because the Pell Grant is a federally funded program. Even though it may be tempting to use refund money for, shall we say, more fun activities, be careful about using it for legitimate expenses. Perfectly sharpened colored pencils definitely count as legitimate school supplies. One Final Note About Pell Grant Limits ... If you're awarded the Pell Grant, it's super important that you stay on top of maintaining your academic performance in college. If your academic performance is deemed "unsatisfactory" (e.g. if you are failing out of your classes), you may lose eligibility for any type of federal aid, including the Pell Grant. If you're concerned that your grades are slipping and you may lose eligibility, the best thing to do is to set up a meeting with a school administrator, like your dean. What's next? The Pell Grant isn't the only source of financial aid for aspiring college grads. If you get awesome SAT scores, you could also get awesome scholarship money. Too late to bring up your SAT scores? No problem! By doing well in school, you could help yourself pay your way through. It's a win-win! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

How to Build the Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategy For Your Business

How to Build the Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategy For Your Business When it comes to professional online networking LinkedIn is usually at the forefront of everyone’s minds. However, when people think about their social media marketing strategy, LinkedIn often becomes an afterthought. It doesn’t have to be, though. LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful B2B tool  that can help boost the buzz around your business. And with the right strategy, it can be immensely useful for building your brand. When you read this post, you be able to take away the following: Learn how to target the right B2B audience that will generate the right leads. Strategically create content that establishes your business as an expert in your industry. Measure your performance and understand if your efforts are successful. With all that knowledge you’ll be able to build the perfect LinkedIn marketing strategy for your business. This Is How To Build The Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategy For Your BusinessGet the 411 on Why Your Business Should Be On LinkedIn Looking for a reason to get your brand on LinkedIn? Weve got 25 of them on this free infographic. Jam-packed with relevant statistics and figures on the networks effectiveness as a marketing channel, you’ll learn why LinkedIn is one of the most powerful B2B tools you have at your disposal. Download it now and share with the skeptics in your professional circle. First, Determine What Your Goals Are The first step in your goal development process involves figuring out what your company goals are. Do you want to: Generate more leads? Drive traffic to the website? Increase content shares? Establish your business as an expert in the field? What are your top #LinkedIn #marketing goals?How Can LinkedIn Contribute To Your Business Goals? Once you have your goals set in place, you can begin to determine how LinkedIn can help you contribute to those overarching goals. Some benefits that LinkedIn  is known for are: Lead generation:  According to Hubspot, LinkedIn visitors convert 277%  more often to leads than visitors on other social media sites. Recruitment:  According to LinkedIn, social professional networks  are the number one source of quality hires. Brand Awareness:  LinkedIn is built on the basis of creating a network of connections, which can help kickstart your brand awareness by connecting with your potential audience members. Establishing Authority:  Because of its professional base, LinkedIn allows you to share information which if done in the right way can help establish the authority your business has. We’ll cover how you can create that content a bit later in this post. Depending on what overarching goals your team has selected, will determine how LinkedIn can help you reach them. For example, if one of your overarching business goals is to increase the number of sales leads for your company by 50%, working and networking on LinkedIn could help you reach that goal. Recommended Reading: How to Set Social Media Goals to Crush Your Business Objectives How To Track Conversions From LinkedIn in Google Analytics To set your leads goal, you need to find a base line. Open your Google Analytics, select Acquisition, then Social: In Social select Conversions, then LinkedIn.  Once there set your dates back and gather the last six  months  of conversion data: To track that data, you need to have goals  set for when you lead conversion occurs. For example, if a potential consumer filled out a contact us form, that they clicked on from your LinkedIn page, that would generate a lead. That number will act as your baseline and help you determine a solid growth percentage. For example, say that in the past six months I converted 1,000 leads and now I want to increase my leads by 25%, I’d want to add 250 more leads in the next six months. LinkedIn has also introduced LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, which are an easy way to collect lead information straight from your profile. Are you generating leads with #LinkedIn Lead Gen forms?How To Determine How Much Traffic LinkedIn Is Referring To Your Website You can also find your referral traffic that is coming from LinkedIn in your Google Analytics page. Go back to Acquisition and then select All Traffic. From All Traffic select Referrals  and scroll down to find LinkedIn: In the graph, you’ll be able to see the total number of visitors LinkedIn is driving to your website as well as the overall percentage it’s contributing to. The same way that you set your goals for leads growth is going to apply here. Look at your past six months of data and set a reasonable growth percentage. Recommended Reading: How to Focus on 10X Growth Projects How To Track The Number Of Shares Your Content Is Receiving To find the number of shares your content has gained, you’re going to turn to the in-app analytics on your LinkedIn profile. Select Updates and change the drop down menu to Shares. To calculate your goals look at the average number of shares over the past six months and select a reasonable percentage growth goal. How To Use LinkedIn To Establish Your Business As The Expert In Your Industry How do you want to establish your business as the expert in your field? Are you going to publish more content? Or maybe jump in and interact with LinkedIn groups more often? It’s important to remember that interacting in a group or posting more often in a group won’t automatically establish your authority. The content you share needs to be informative, thought-provoking and original. While there isn’t a metric that is going to be able to tell you specifically that your business is authoritative, you can track metrics like follower growth, shares, and quality of engagement. Why those metrics? The more followers you begin to have, the more shares your content receives and the more your audience interacts with your content, the higher indication you’ll have that your audience is finding value in your content. How can you track that and create goals around those three metrics? Most of these metrics can be found in your in-app analytics. Go to your LinkedIn page and select Followers in your drop-down menu to find your follower growth and Updates to find your shares growth and overall message interactions: To set your goals you can either take the average of growth for the past six months of posts, or you can take the average for the week and build your goal based off of that average. Whatever your team decides to do, calculate your baseline and figure out how much your team wants to grow that baseline by. Recommended Reading: How to Use Social Media Analytics to Create the Best Posts Determine Who Your Audience Is You can’t create great content if you don’t know who you’re targeting it toward. The next part of your LinkedIn strategy involves figuring out who your target audience is. The important thing to remember is that LinkedIn is a B2B channel. You can’t just transfer your Facebook content to LinkedIn and call it good. This audience type needs to be catered to in a very specific way. Figuring out who will be part of your target audience involves thinking about: Who are they? What problems are they experiencing? Where are they experiencing their problems? When are they experiencing them Why  are they experiencing them? Recommended Reading: How to Find Your Target Audience And Create the Best Content That Connects Optimize Your Profile For Maximum Exposure One of the last steps in your strategy will be optimizing your LinkedIn profile for maximum exposure to your intended audience. Set Your Profile Picture Your profile picture should be your company logo and within the optimum  size image for LinkedIn. The standard size for LinkedIn is 400x400px. Utilize Your Banner Image Setting the right banner image can help bring more personality to your LinkedIn page. It can be standard like a CTA  or more unique, like a photo of your office: Make Sure Your Bio Is Completely Filled Out One of the most overlooked parts of any social profile is the biography. While this may seem like a small detail to deal with, having a bio that isn’t filled out is causing you to miss out on another opportunity to interact with your customer base. The nice thing about your LinkedIn bio is that it’s easy to edit with many parts of it allowing to drag and drop pieces in from your website. Check out this link  to learn how to edit your company profile. Now you might be wondering what does a great LinkedIn bio include? According to FindandConvert,  your business bio should include: A great company overview. You know better then anyone else what your company is all about. Take that space to tell your audience what you’re about. Do you have a mission statement or values that your company lives by? Add those in. Information about your products and services. What are you doing as a company that is setting you apart from the crowd? If a potential lead is experiencing a problem how can your company help solve it? If they don’t know what types of services you offer, why would they choose you? Recommendations.  92%  of people trust peer recommendations over advertising. Meaning why wouldn’t you showcase some of the recommendations you’ve received from your current clients. If someone is on the fence about your company, what better way could there be to persuade them. What does a great bio look like in real life? Check out this example from Bobcat: Establish Voice And Tone The next part of your strategy involves creating a professional voice and tone. What’s voice and tone, you ask? According to Buffer,â€Å"your voice is your brand personality described in an adjective while your tone adds a specific flavor to your voice depending on different factors or situations.† So let’s tackle voice first. What is your brand personality? Are you informative, thoughtful, political or purposeful? To help you get started, have your team write down three adjectives that describe your brand voice and together determine the final three that your company is going to embody online. Here is a list to help you get started if you’re stuck: Once you have your final three adjectives decided you can move on to developing a specific tone for LinkedIn. Tone is going to be more specific, as it’s going to define how your voice sounds on LinkedIn. If your overall voice is modest, how do you want that to come across to the professionals you try and connect with on LinkedIn. Are you going to be modest with a professional tone or modest but excited? Now instead of choosing three adjectives, you’re going to choose one overarching tone that a majority of your messages on LinkedIn will be in. Remember that your tone will switch from time to time, depending on the situation that you’re posting. How can you find that balance between being personal but professional? Check out some of these examples. Target Target finds a balance between the professional and personal voice in this post by highlighting their company culture, while still maintaining a professional tone and demeanor: Adobe Adobe knows how to reach their audience of graphic designers and creators by appealing to their audience’s love of design, while still using language friendly enough for the non-designer audience members to understand: Ulta Beauty Among the three examples, Ulta is one of the more personal voices that is active on LinkedIn. Ulta works with many young men and women to help them find confidence in how they look. Therefore the brand needs to seem incredibly approachable. That’s why posts like this one work so well for their audience; it shows their intended audience how Ulta employees will go above and beyond to help make sure that someone loves the way they look: Be Smart About Your Content Strategy LinkedIn is so much more than publishing  posts and hoping that something sticks. Depending on the goals that you created earlier, your content and what you create for LinkedIn will shift. How you convey your content is important but so is, what types of content that you choose to share. Are you going to be sharing: Case studies White papers Blogs Slide Decks Video via YouTube Infographics LinkedIn Pulse posts These are all different content types that work well on LinkedIn. Recommended Reading: How to Develop a Winning Social Media Content Strategy [Free Template] Establish Your Company As An Expert In Your Industry If you want to be the go-to expert in your industry, LinkedIn is a great place to help you establish that reputation. However, that expertise status doesn’t come overnight and will take careful execution to get it to stick. How Can You Solve The Problems Your Customers Are Experiencing One way to establish your authority in your industry is to show how your company can solve specific problems, better than your competitors. Remember as a B2B business,  your target audience isn’t going to make a split-second decision, so showing them how you stand out above everyone else can help sway your target audience your way. How can you stand out to your potential audience? See if your content answers the following questions: Is our content empathizing with their problem? Is our content creating an emotional connection to where our potential customer is at in their buyer journey? Is our content drawing a line from point A to point B that connects our audience members problems to our solution? If your content isn’t highlighting the answers to at least one of those questions, it may be time to go back to the drawing board and see how you can help lead your audience to the conclusion that you are the company to work with. Take the Hilton brand for example. They have thousands of hotels, and part of their target audience could be getting traveling business people to invest in a stay at them. The post talks about how the new integrations in a travel app can help ease their stress levels. Hilton on LinkedIn: "Our new Hilton Honors integration... Our new Hilton Honors integration with the Travel and Transport Dash Mobile app looks to take some of the stress out of business travel. Learn more: ... Freely Share Your Knowledge To truly establish your authority on LinkedIn you need to be prepared to freely share your industry knowledge. What? That seems crazy, doesn’t it? Isn’t your insider knowledge something you’re supposed to keep to yourself? You could, but it wouldn’t help with your authority online. What can you do to freely share your knowledge with your audience? More importantly, how do you know when to hold information back? Share your knowledge when: It’s basic. What that means is that the information that you share with your audience may not be stuff they would know but other people in your industry would. Your customers are constantly experiencing a problem that you can show them how to fix. Why would you want to go and fix a 2 cent problem when you could show your audience how to fix it themselves? It saves their time and you get to focus on solving bigger problems. Don’t share your knowledge when: It’s a company secret.  If your company or brand has a secret way of doing something, like the Bush’s Baked Beans family recipe, you probably want to keep that to yourself. The topic is going to put their audience in over their heads.  If your solution is incredibly complex and would be difficult to do unless you had industry knowledge, keep that to yourself and have your customer contact you for help instead. Here's when you should (and shouldn't) share your knowledge on LinkedIn:A  great example of this, is one Jay Baer’s utilizes in his book Youtility.  According to Jay, Geek Squad has a ton of do-it-yourself  YouTube videos  that show people how to easily fix common computer tech problems. Jay explains that it might seem counterintuitive. Wouldn’t they want those people to come to them first? Not necessarily. Jay goes on to explain that eventually the person trying to fix their computer is going to become overwhelmed. Who are they going to turn to? A random computer company or the company they’ve already gotten all that information from? What could that look like on LinkedIn? Take for example. We’re constantly sharing information with our followers in order to give them the knowledge to create the best possible marketing content out there. We structure our social media posts to help answer common questions; like this one relating to how to start your own webinar. on LinkedIn: "Need help with doing a... Need help with doing a killer webinar? Here's our 4-stage approach: http://cos.sc/2uHievh Share The Most Valuable Content Possible We have a motto  here at :â€Å"To be the best marketing blog on the web.† That same motto can apply to your LinkedIn content, but instead of just producing the best content, you’re going to share the best content too. What does the best content on LinkedIn look like? The best content out there should be: Well-researched.  Well-researched content is backed by a plethora of different credible sources. What’s a credible source? This image from Contents  Magazine  breaks down the best types of credible sources that should be included in content that you share. Highly informative.  According to Roger Bryan, your content needs to to be unique and useful to your target audience. If you’re creating content that just rehashes what others have already said on the subject, you’re not informing your audience of anything because it’s information they already know. Authoritative. Isn’t that the same thing well-researched content? Not exactly. Authoritative content is the authority of your content overall; not just a single post. How much can people trust the content that you post to your LinkedIn page? You can build that  credibly  with your audience through publishing reliable, well-researched content. Utilize Your Highly Informative Content To Successfully Target Your Audience There are three key pieces that your content needs to follow for your company to successfully target your audience on LinkedIn. According to Content Marketing Institute  those types of content are: User generated content: Content that comes directly from your target audience. Expert content: Content that comes from industry experts. Branded content: Content that comes from your company. Is This Content Focused On a Topic That My Audience Cares About? If you’re creating content that’s outside your audience’s scope, why would they take the time to read it? Their time is already precious and limited; they’re not going to waste in on an article that has nothing to do with them. So how do you find topics that your audience cares about? Look to the influencers in your industry. How can I find influencers in my industry? Usually, a Google search will pull up major influencers in your industry. However, you can also check out popular LinkedIn groups to see who is having some major pull with your audience. What are they talking about that is causing other people to respond or share their content? If you want to be direct, survey your audience straight from your LinkedIn page. Ask what they want to hear and see you post about. How? LinkedIn doesn’t have a built-in polling feature like Twitter does but you can still create a poll through a tool like SurveyMonkey  or Google Forms. Most of these tools will have in form analytics which will allow you to gather data on your audience’s responses. Some common questions you could add into the survey are: What topics are we talking about that you enjoy us covering? What would you like to see us cover more? What would you like to know about our products and or our company? Set An Attainable Posting Schedule There are recommendations everywhere that give you a suggested optimum posting schedule.  While those are usually great starts the number of times your business needs to post to LinkedIn will depend on one thing, your audience. Your audience will tell you  how often you need to post to LinkedIn through how often they interact with your content. What? You’ll see strong or weaker interactions on your messages. For example, if you post five times a day and get three responses but then you post three times a day and get ten responses, that is a subtle way your audience is telling you what want they want to see from you. â€Å"But what if I want to know what an average posting schedule looks like?† According to 14 different studies  and our internal research, the following would be the start of an optimum posting schedule for LinkedIn:

Feasibility Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Feasibility Report - Research Paper Example The university offers various facilities to facilitate the learning process that the students partake, hence, making it the fourth largest University in the state of Texas. The campus has a retention rate of approximately 63% of first-time freshmen; however, the number of students anticipated to increase with the execution of the admission principles. The new buildings, the renovation and the proposed housing solutions will indeed help in achieving the rise in retention rate. This will increase the University’s growth in the number of student receiving its full potential. Students’ retention at the University of Houston Downtown has proven to be a challenge. Over the years, the University has found it hard to preserve the large numbers of student intake. This paper is a feasibility report on a research that was initiated to find possible solutions to the addressed challenge. This report will scrutinize the possible solutions and offer recommendations and a conclusion. P roposed solutions The university of Houston downtown is the fourth largest university in the state of Texas. This shows the stretch of the high number of students using the university’s facilities. However, most of the students who join the University of Houston Downtown have trouble finding hostels or apartments within the school. The pressure of the growing population means that the administration has to find solutions in order to accommodate increasing numbers of student (Geiger Mass & College Prowler Firm, 2011). This has led to the three possible solutions that include; the leasing of off-campus apartments that are owned by the university; retaining first years by means of on campus housing program, renovating of the old buildings around the school for spacing and accommodation purposes (Geiger Mass & College Prowler Firm, 2011). Research Methods The following are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threats (SWOT) analysis of these proposed solutions. Leasing of o ff-campus housing for students. According to my investigations, the university has considerable support from the neighboring properties owner but at a rate agreeable to both parties. The properties have the capacity to house approximately 12% of the students in the campus. The properties are in decent shape and are secure. The owners are interested in making a deal with the university; hence, the university has a chance to make the leasing agreement possible. The cost of the leasing can range from a minimum of 9% to 14% of the university’s income. The effectiveness of leasing oof-campus houses will be determined by terms of agreement by the University and the property owners. The implementation of this program is both time and money efficient. The deals also provide a threat to the successful implementation of this program. The parties involve may have disagreements over the rent rates (Simha & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003). Either, charging some of the lease r ent to the student or focusing on the properties owners prepared to cooperate