Fraternities

Parent Cafe
41

<p>If they rush kids during the summer then clearly being in a frat is a huge part of the campus scene and perhaps it's hard to imagine campus life without Greek life? I believe, if you hadn't met your future best man, you would have developed another best friend. I have great friends I continue to see 30 years after graduating college and none of us were in Greek organizations- they simply weren't popular -we made friends through other associations and I feel closer to them than I do to most of my relatives. </p>

<p>I had many different living experiences - had to get along with people who weren't so much like me and had to learn to see what made other people tick. I learned to appreciate people with quirks, people from other cultures, people who were shy, etc - people who might not get a bid or even seek out Greek life - because I had to live with them and had to get to know them better. It was a broadening experience. My son tells me over and over again that he has found a group of guys like himself in the frat - I think that is too bad at this point in his life and exactly what I didn't want to happen at college. I have met many of the guys in his frat and have to agree - they are a lot like him! He will not learn anything about how people not like him think, live, etc. No real challenges to his own thinking, no real broadening of his own experiences. My husband tells me all the time that he would never have put "me" together with some of my friends from college. That is true - I would NOT have gravitated to these people right out of high school. But they all enriched my life and created a bigger world for me. This is part of the living away from home experience, isn't it? </p>

<p>I know this crowd doesn't want to talk about frats so I will stop talking about it. I just ask the question - why are frats/sororities on campus? Most schools would love to be rid of them. What is the basic benefit to students of having these socially exclusive, fee-required, membership clubs on campus? </p>

<p>BTW, it is not true that Greeks consistently have higher GPAs - this is NOT true where my son goes to school at all. Some chapters have higher GPAs, but they are the exception.</p>

42

<p>It seems to me that access to alcohol, parties and animal house behavior are major factors regarding the popularity of frats. I suspect a lot of the appeal would not be there if there was no access to alcohol. Frats also have some characteristics which usually include hazing, traditions and rituals. The Marine Corp, the Masons and many other groups have similar characteristics. These are just part of the social glue that holds these organizations together. Some people appreciate these characteristics; others view this as mindless and sheep like. Beyond the alcohol and parties and rituals, frats also function as social groups. Frats have brothers with instant acceptance into a family. Frats choose their members and don't admit members who do not fit. Many college kids appreciate being accepted into a group of similar members and they then don't need to worry about the challenges of making friends and handling living in a diverse community. Finally, there is community service. Most frats do something at least once a year.</p>

43

<p>I have a good friend who went to Penn State. She hated it, saying it was way too big for her and impersonal. I asked her if she was in a sorority, and she said she hadn't joined one, and wished that she had. She said it would've made it easier, part of a ready made group of friends. Rileydog, my husband felt the same way you did about the Greek system when he was in college. A group of guys from his boarding school asked him 2nd day of college to join their fraternity and he said the last thing he wanted to do was to hang out with a bunch of preppies he'd known there. When we went back for his 25th reunion I couldn't believe how many types of people came up to him to say "hi" . He said, "this was why I didn't join anything. It was so much better this way."</p>