A) Whipple, Edward G., and Eileen G Sullivan. "Greek Letter Organizations: Communities Of Learners?." New Directions For Student Services
1998.81 (1998): 7. Professional Development Collection. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
B) Does Greek life impact students and institutions of higher education academically/ financially, specifically at Mizzou?
C) Before reading: I was drawn to this source because the title questioned whether or not fraternities and sororities were communities focused on learning? This made me want to read the piece because for my paper, I want to include all points of view of Greek Life to determine if/ how this community impacts the campus and students/ faculty/ staff, etc. Additionally, the question mark added at the end of the title made me assume that this article was going to include statements that would challenge these institutions which made me curious to learn more. While I was reading this article, I discovered how while I could relate to some of the statements mentioned, I also disagreed with other points. I found this article to be very informative and while it was not entirely centered around statistics and numbers, it did include nationwide studies and it's results. After reading this piece, I thought it would be useful for the purpose of answering my question as I did before I read it. For instance, the piece discussed the positive and negative factors that went into fraternities and sororities as well as ideas on how to make these institutions more positive than negative.
Step 2:
This article discussed how fraternities and sororities were established through groups of people finding things in common and coming together to form a community. While some of these fraternities and sororities were originally based on religion, they have over time become a more social experience. The article points out that being apart of the Greek community can be positive because members in this community are more likely to volunteer and to donate to charities as well as focus on academics. However, the article uses results from studies to question why even with study hours, why does members of the Greek Life get lower grades? The article also discusses that the purpose of fraternities and sororities is to act as a community of learning and that factors like lack of diversity or ethical development could act as an obstacle.
This article made me rethink what I thought Greek Life was. Personally, my experience in a sorority has been positive and those on the Executive Board always remind us that school comes first and that things like hazing are not tolerated whatsoever. However, this article pointed out to me that this is not the case everywhere and that joining a fraternity or sorority can really impact a person's development, especially during the first year. While I disagree that Greek Life is not diverse or academics oriented, I can see how certain negative factors can create a bad image for this community.
This source follows a similar format of my first source because they both discuss the positive and negative aspects of Greek Life. These articles both point out that while fraternities and sororities improve a person's leadership skills and social skills, the fact that it can have little to no direct impact on a student's moral thinking or negative impact on a student's ethical development makes people question whether these institutions represent the values of a university. After comparing the two, I would say that I do not agree with one source more than the other. In both pieces I agree with some statements and there are other points that I do not agree with. Both of these sources reveal a different side to Greek Life that I was not familiar to until now.
Finally, this source has led me to ask questions like: "Does the school's Greek community impact the student's development or is this seen in all institutions of higher education?" and "If these communities impact a member's leadership and social skills in a positive way, why does it impact a student's cognitive thinking in a negative way?" These types of questions will help me narrow my search and will help me answer these differing statements? I will also look into the financial aspects of this community and how institutions of higher education benefit from it.
B)
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