Hevel, M., et. all. "The
Effects of Fraternity and Sorority Membership in the Fourth Year of College: A
Detrimental or Value-Added Component of Undergraduate Education?". Journal
of College Student Development, Volume 56, Number 5, 2014. Web. 2 Mar.
2016.
Both formal and informal
research studies have thoroughly covered the negative aspects of Greek Life
organizations: critics claim that Greek men are more likely to commit rape,
that Greek females are more likely to have poor body image, and supposedly
since Greeks party so much, they have poorer grades and are academically and
morally inferior to their non-Greek kin. However, according to the longitudinal
study of Hevel et all., Greeks are no better or worse than non-Greeks, where
academic and moral outcomes are concerned. This finding may seem to take
away ammunition from the hordes of Greek Life critics, but it is no cause of
celebration for the mighty Greeks-- millions of dollars are invested annually
on the academic life of Greek students, with no positive results to be found.
After controlling for 14 variables, the research also found that the critical
reasoning abilities of White students decreased a little, while their moral
reasoning increased and that the critical reasoning of Black students
increased, but their moral reasoning decreased somewhat.
Source number 3 is the first
source that I have encountered that takes a step in a different direction than
"critic" or "supporter"-- this source embraces the
ambiguity, the plurality and the complexity of the outcomes for Greek students.
Particularly, this source collected detailed background data about the
attributes of the 4,000 students interviewed. Fourteen control variables were
collected in total:
a parallel precollege measure
for each liberal arts outcome measure, the precollege academic preparation of
the student (ACT score or SAT equivalent score), the sex and race of the
student, whether the parent had a graduate degree, high school involvement,
pre-college academic motivation, pre- college political views, hours worked per
week during college both on and off campus, co-curricular involvement, took
2007 assessment, if the institution had a fraternity/ sorority community,
institutional type and last, the academic major of the student. This source
convinced me that fraternities and sororities themselves aren't really harmful.
They are just the places where many very-high achieving, and "partyer" students
end up.
The research showed that
great students weren't really hurt by entering a Greek organization, and that
poor students were not harmed too much. This means that overall, the two most
important factors of Greek life are 1) the background of a student, and 2) if
that student is successfully admitted into a Greek organization. This are the
most reliable predictors about Greek Life in college. This relates to my other
sources, because my next source is a book that details the personal experience
of students, by hundreds of collected interviews. This source negates source
number 1, which is only concerned about the seemingly direct consequences of
Greek Life, because research shows there is no problem with Greek life, the
problem is the students. This source also talks to source number 2, because it
claims that there are really no academic benefits to being in a fraternity or
sorority.
Source number 3 has been very
useful in sending me to a new direction-- I should research about the students
themselves, and I should research how students get admitted and accepted into
Greek organizations. My prevailing theory at the moment is that certain kinds
of students (nerds and partyers) and attracted to the social or academic
aspects of Greek Life, and that only the most rambunctious, smart, popular and
good-looking students get in, which creates a unique and sometimes problematic
environment for Greek Life organizations.
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