Argumentative Essay On Greek Life

Throughout my exploratory essay, I found that there are many different perspectives when it comes to Greek life. I as a member of Greek life myself, feel that the positive aspects outweigh the negative. There are many positive advantages that come from being a part of Greek life. There are an abundance of networking opportunities that come from Greek life along with all of the incredible friends that you make throughout the recruitment experience. One may also gain leadership skills from being a member of the executive council and having to lead their chapter on a day to day basis. Being a member of Greek life also pushes you to be more involved on campus as well as in the community. Each Greek organization has a philanthropy that they support

Animal house, Sydney White, and The Revenge of the Nerds. These are movies about Fraternities and Sororities that everyday people associate with Greek life; alcohol, drugs, hazing,Togo parties, manipulation, and debauchery in forms of the imagination. Although these things do happen on many levels, as the war cry of the title “Admit Nothing, Deny Everything”, there are many positives. I have personally been positively influenced by a sorority that has permanently changed my life forever. My freshman year of college, I went through recruitment and was chosen to be a pledge sister for Delta Zeta Sorority. I was immediately surrounded by older DZ sisters who became my friends and mentors. I was also made to jump out of my comfort zone with the many projects, and fundraisers the sorority did. I worked with hearing impaired children, I created the homecoming float, and I organized formals and mixers. Thoughthese activities I as able to break out of my shell and have no fear of raising my hand and saying “I’ll do it”. Although Greek life might not be for everybody, there are positives factors to being a part of it.Fraternities and Sororities have made a tremendous turn from where they first began in 1776. From being kept secret, because of social status, to now being heard of in every home. Not many people understand the full meaning of Fraternity and Sorority, being in a sorority or fraternity is always having a group of people to look out of them, too always stick up for

With this research I plan to go back to the roots of why sororities use Greek language in their discourse community and how it helps them form a sisterhood that is shared only amongst the community. Sororities and fraternities are becoming more prevalent in universities all across the nation. Today, there are over 9 million members of the Greek communities and the number is continuously growing each year (“Greek Life Statistics”). “The terms ‘fraternity’ and ‘sorority’ describe groups of men and women who join together to offer fellowship, academic support, leadership training, participation in campus activities, service to the community and University, and preparation for future careers” (“What is Greek Life?”). People that in are the Greek community all have at least one thing in common. Whether they just want to be apart of a sisterhood/brotherhood or deeper things like they all share a common belief or goal. “Sororities have five basic benefits: sisterhood, scholarship, leadership, philanthropy (charitable causes/community service), and socializing” (“About Sororities”). These benefits are included in the values and beliefs of a sorority as a discourse community. Greeks all speak a “language” that they learn in the process of becoming part of their fraternity/sorority(recruitment process). Agendas, e-mails, and text messages are all forms of a genre. A genre is anything that is written down and shared in the discourse community. Face to face interaction is a way to advertise for events and also another way to advertise for events is through

Between family legacies, traditions, and an abundance of college themed movies, books, and television shows, it would be difficult to find a prospective college student who is not familiar with the idea of “Greek life.” For the purpose of this essay, “Greek life” refers to the system employed by many colleges and universities to establish and maintain fraternities and sororities (primarily dominated by caucasian and economically advantages students). It is important to note the existence of fraternities and organizations outside of this stereotypical “Greek” realm, such as coeducational honor and service based fraternities, though even these are not fully exempt from detrimental practices. Fraternities and sororities are often looked down upon with a negative light for a number of reasons, some of which include dangerous hazing habits and unsavory social scenes. While there certainly are undeniable benefits and negatives within these systems, the biggest effect they have is on gender. “Greek life” in college is unhealthy due to its impact on post-college gender expectations by promoting party culture, encouraging misogyny through ingrained tradition, and indoctrinating women into subservience at an impressionable age.

HBCU Greek organizations are one of the most prospective and student sanctioned organizations. They have the representation to either be a great organization where the concept of charity and family is govern. Or they can be the source of reckless activities and worse of it all hazing. Throughout the articles, I gathered that these organizations can either be a source of inspiration or the student’s downfall.

Often partying, drinking, and hazing are key words that come to mine when talking about fraternities and sororities. “Since 1975, there has been at least one hazing-induced death per year across college campuses—and 82% of these have come as a result of binge drinking” (Glass, Nicole). Greek life leads to a culture of alcohol and drug abuse. Young, inexperienced drinkers find themselves running into trouble when trying to fit in around alcohol. Also there are some organizations that partake in “forcing new members to drink as much as possible” as part of a right of passage (“Joining”). The drinking habits being learned due to Greek life cause a serious threat to a student’s life in the present and in the future. Statistically, “75% of fraternity members engaging in heavy drinking compared with 49%” of non-fraternity members (“15”). Also like fraternity men, “62% of sorority members engage in binge drinking compared with 41%” of non-sorority women (“15”). The likelihood that members in Greek life are more likely to suffer from substance abuse after graduation scare away the timid potential new

This is also with life, to help the stereotype of greek turn to a good one each the fraternities will have to hold each other accountable. This means competing to be the best fraternity on campus. Instead of competing on who throws the best parties compete to see who can raise the most money, or who can have the most new members. One big competition now on campus is GPA and you can see that it has a positive affect because one of the big selling points when new students come and they are being educated on greek life it is the higher GPA. To make greek life have a good reputation it would have to start small. If every fraternity challenged their members to not be the guy that does one thing and messes it up, and if it does happen to give consequences and make it known that we are better than the decisions one guy

When one first thinks of Greek life or a sorority the only thing that comes to mind is the social aspect. Most people don’t think of sororities as social institutions that envelop their own culture, with mannerisms, languages and customs that are unique to each individual organization. However, these institutions promote a common set of values that enable members to become connected in a way that has a more profound meaning than just social interaction. Greek organizations are good examples of how institutions can affect and be affected by social status and roles within the collegiate community. They are also a prime example of how race, class and gender can affect a social setting in both positive and negative manners.

One of the biggest stereotypes about being in a fraternity or sorority is that you party and drink a lot. Drinking alcohol is not a focal point of Greek life, although alcohol is at almost every social occasion in Greek life. In Blake’s article it is said that no matter what Greek organization you are a part of underage

In the 1960s, there was a considerable decrease in the number of students joining fraternities and sororities on campus. The movie implemented a rejuvenation of the Greek college, party life on campus. Sperber writes “Nationwide membership in fraternities doubled from about one hundred thousand in 1970 to two hundred thousand in 1980, and doubled again to almost four hundred thousand in 1990” (16) Due to the rise of party and prank behavior attributed to membership, colleges put regulations in place to stop student drinking. These regulations do not work. The regulations also contradict the advertised Greek life used while recruiting students to pledge. My impression of this is that it still occurs today. I agree with Sperber, there are many students entering college just to be part of this

Concluding Remarks: Many clubs and organizations offer things such as friendship, academic support, leadership skills, etc. However, Greek life will provide you with these opportunities and so much more in one single organization. Transitioning from high school to college and college to the real world is never an easy task, but by becoming Greek you will be able to transition with ease, as well as grow as an individual.

Barbara F. Tobolowsky states this in her review of My Freshman Year, how Nathan doesn’t go deep into detail about her studies connecting to a “notion of community,” neither does she mention that she lives in a sophomore and junior residence hall. Tobolowsky says in the review, “Nathan relates how students’ lives and the institutional structure, but their very nature, undercut the existence of an institutional community. She begins her argument by recognizing that students are busy.” Most college students have jobs, are in clubs, or volunteer to prepare for their future careers, but then spend less time on their work. Nathan says this is another reason why students don’t get themselves involved in the Greek system. Being a part of an organization requires a lot of time that students can’t give up due to their focus on academics while at the same time it was supposedly said that being in a fraternity or sorority gave them the highest satisfaction with campus life. Nathan pointed out, “The same things that make us feel connected and protected are the things that make us feel obligated and trapped as

Over several decades, Greek life has been an integral part of colleges and universities throughout the United States. There is a high demand of “fitting in” in today’s society and a question that students, parents, and teachers alike often ask themselves is, “Does Greek life provide a more safe or harmful environment?” With strong evidence, it is absolutely absurd to believe that fraternities and sororities do more good than they do harm. Various statistics provide factual evidence as to why Greek life is a toxic and dangerous environment for many young adults. Between the rape culture, hazing, and delinquency linked to the students associated with Greek life, it is time that it comes to an end for good so that students may have a more safe and enjoyable college experience. Fraternities and Sororities should be banned off of college and university campuses due to the danger and drama associated with them.

Recently, the idea of partaking in a fraternity has become more prevalent. Young adults are captivated with wanting to live the Greek life. The clothes and parties seem to drawn in teens like a magnet. However what these teens do not realize is the terrible things associated with fraternities. Many fraternities have a reputation for turning college students into drunks, treating women vulgarly, enacting violent hazing against other fraternity members and disrupting the true reason why students go to college. For these reasons fraternities should be banned altogether on college campuses.

A big issue that colleges across the nation are seeing is an increased rate in students dropping out and never looking back for their education. This is especially prominent when the students are going out of state for college. Without much of a support system on their first failed test, students seem to carry that with them throughout the rest of the semester. This later on becomes a snowball effect and eventually leads to dropping out. However, being in a sorority for two years I rarely ever see a drop out occur, because we are all holding each other accountable and have very high expectations of each other. Which leads me to the conclusion that college students involved in Greek life are less likely to dropout of college