Kyle Keogh
Research Proposal Assignment
Michael Goeller
The Positive Impacts of Going Greek
2)
Greek life has been around since the 1800s and has become a very important aspect to college life. The Greek life community is filled with hundreds of thousands of current members and alumni. Although Greek life has been around for over 200 years it still gets a bad reputation. Many common issues brought up with it are excessive drinking, drug use, sexual assault, racism, and poor academic performances. While yes this does happen occasionally there are so many other advantages and positive impacts that the Greek community provides. For starters Greek life provides countless hours of community service and raises millions of dollars in philanthropy. A large majority of Greek students perform community service on a weekly basis. They provide help to the surrounding community and have a positive impact on thousands yearly. That is just the start to the impact that Greek life has. It also allows young college students to have an opportunity to grow and hold leadership positions. This is very important for a young college student. Holding these positions give them a sense of responsibility and helps them become a better leader. These are all traits that employers are looking for when looking for new employees. Greek members achieve high level as academic success as well. Most presidents and CEOs of fortune 500 companies were once in Greek Life. The impact of Greek life could go on forever. It allows students to socialize with new people constantly and develop their social skills. Students in Greek life have been studied and when looked at further the students apart of the Greek Community score higher in many different areas compared to Non-Greeks. This includes academic success, campus involvement, and development of different skills. These are just a few examples but there are many more. Even though there is the occasional hiccup in the Greek community, its overall positive impact outweighs the negatives. .
3)
What is the impact on development and growth of students who decide to go Greek?
4)
The most important concepts and ideas from the academic articles are the facts that they bring up about how Greek members grow and develop their skill sets. A very important idea brought up in one article is cognitive development. One article does is depth study on the impact that joining Greek life has on the development of student’s cognitive development. Cognitive development is an important aspect of college and joining Greek life can help develop these skills. Gary Pike did research into the development of Greek students cognitive abilities. He found that “"In the present research, involvement in a variety of curricular and co-curricular activities was directly related to gains in one dimension of cognitive development: growth in general abilities" (Pike 136). Involvement in other groups on campus improves Greek student's abilities to further develop their general cognitive skills. Another very interesting thing I found was that Greek students have higher graduation rates, are more ready to work full time after graduation, and look into graduate school earlier than Non-Greek members. In research done by Wesley Routon and Jay Walker they found that "Greek membership is found to increase the desire to pursue a graduate degree and increase the likelihood of graduating on time" ((Routon and Walker 70). This is a large benefit that only Greek students really get to have. The reason for that being is due to the large alumni networks the have access too. They help better prepare the undergraduate members with their real world experience. They can also prepare them for interviews or even help them get a full time position.
5)
The academic articles that I have looked into have mostly provided important information on what impact Greek life has on students. So far they have all looked into studies of students in the Greek community and Non-Greeks and compared the impact on joining Greek life. I found two very important cases that have discussed the impact on growth for Greek members. The two cases look at different areas of growth but both are equally important. As stated above the one case looks into the development of cognitive skills. The other article looks into the growth of leaderships. This another important case because it discusses how joining Greek life allows it members to increase their leadership experience. In another study by Routon and Walker they found that “Greek membership offers opportunities to take leadership roles within the organization, to speak publicly, and learn how to negotiate the group dynamics of working with other students in pursuit of goals and projects that non-Greeks may not be as encouraged to take. The dynamics within Greek organizations likely lead to these differentials” (Routon and Walker 618). Greek students are able to not only get involved in their organization but as well as all the organizations their individual schools have to offer. This allows them join other clubs and take leadership roles. Not only does this improve their leadership ability but it also helps them improve other skills. It helps them improve their public speaking and communication. Both of which are important skills to have in order to be successful further in life. Also gaining experience with working in a group is important. It relates back to what Pike found and how joining other groups improves students development of cognitive skills.
6)
Glass, Nicole. "Examining the Benefits of Greek Life." USA Today. Gannett Satellite
Information Network, 03 July 2014. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
Heibutzki, Ralph. "Positive & Negative Effects of Greek Life in College." Education - Seattle PI.
Seattle PI, 27 Mar. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
Long, Larry D. "Unchallenged, Professed Core Values: Do Undergraduate Fraternity/Sorority
Members Actually Benefit in the Areas of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and
Friendship?." College Student Affairs Journal, vol. 30, no. 2, 01 Jan. 2012, pp. 15-30.
EBSCOhost,
Musulin, Kristin. "Voices: The Positive, Underreported Aspects of Greek Life." USA Today.
Gannett Satellite Information Network, 18 Dec. 2014. Web. 28 Feb.
2017.N=EJ1006547&site=eds-live.
Pike, Gary R. "The Influence of Fraternity or Sorority Membership on Students' College
Experiences and Cognitive Development." Research in Higher Education, no. 1, 2000, p. 117. EBSCOhost,
login.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.40196391&site=eds-live.
Routon, P.W. ( 1 ) and J.K. ( 2 ) Walker. "Attitude Changes and Self-Perceived Skill Gains from
Collegiate Greek Organization Membership*." Social Science Quarterly, vol. 97, no. 3,
01 Sept. 2016, p. 807-822. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/ssqu.12310.
Routon, P. Wesley and Jay K. Walker. "The Impact of Greek Organization Membership on
Collegiate Outcomes: Evidence from a National Survey." Journal of Behavioral and
Experimental Economics, vol. 49, 01 Apr. 2014, pp. 63-70. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.socec.2014.02.003.
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