Update
Since my first blog post, my topic has not changed much. I am still going to be describing the effect that being in a fraternity has on someones college experience.
Links Used
http://education.seattlepi.com/impact-fraternities-education-1164.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-campus/201109/how-fraternities-and-sororities-impact-students-or-do-they
What I Learned
There are many articles out there that are heavily anti-fraternity. It is actually hard to find ones about how a fraternity might help you in any way shape or form. I did find a few that put a few words onto actions that I have see. Three words that I found helped me get a better grasp on why certain fraternity members make certain choices when it comes to their college experience.
Risk-taking: Some risks that college students take are done because they know they have the help of their other fraternity brothers. An example of a risk would be throwing a party at a fraternity house that doesn't exactly follow the rules.
Excitement-seeking: I know that this description matches most of my fraternity brothers. When schoolwork is done, it is time to get involved in a different lifestyle that comes with the whole fraternity experience. Not many times do fraternity members like to sit around and waste time. A lot of them like to go out and make the most out of their time here at college.
Extraversion: Being in a fraternity has taught me a great deal when it comes to meeting new people. Initially, you are meeting about 60 new people and are eager to learn about them (you have to learn about them). The amount of people that come in and out of a frat house on a daily basis is a lot to keep up with, but if you become good at meeting new people and remembering names, this will only benefit you. A fraternity teaches you that you must do these kinds of things in order to benefit yourself in terms of networking.
Controversies
As I had mentioned above, there is a lot of controversy over the idea of what fraternities actually do. There are an overwhelming amount of articles linking fraternities to negative things, so I believe people who have no personal experience would tend to side with these ideas. There are articles that state that fraternities are the cause of students not furthering their education and not reaching potential. But as I said before, I know that people can definitely go this route. It is easy to get caught up in the social aspect of college life without balancing your academic life.
The second article actually features a lot more negative effects of Greek organizations than positive effects. That is the problem with thinking of the topic as "making a list of things" -- you will inevitably pick and choose and ignore the negative. Your best bet, really, is to pick a topic that is somewhat controversial and then, after examining research, argue for a particular view.
ReplyDeleteFor instance: the Alan Reifman article (which is not an academic source, even though it is written by an academic and has some good references) points out that while sororities do seem to boost confidence and self-esteem among members, they also can make some members feel less confident and constantly judged, pushed toward social conformity and an over-concern with attractiveness to men. It might be interesting to find research in this area that might help answer the controversy about whether or not sorority membership boosts self-esteem.
I'm not saying that would be a good topic for you. But I wanted to illustrate how a controversial topic is more useful than one where you have already made up your mind.