Originally posted by Lira
All right, I skimmed over the link Spacey Orange posted, and there's the little I know from films. So, if I understand correctly, they're like gigantic republics/clubs for mutual aid when there's shortage of housing, food, and alcohol.
They're basically a kind of social club where the aims can range from mainly making future business contacts to mostly facilitating the throwing of huge parties with lots of alcohol. Usually some attention (or at least lip service) is also given to looking after the academic performance of their members and performing charitable actions (through community service of some sort or donation drives). Almost all of them throw big parties of some sort, even the ones devoted to "business" or "community service", so that is usually part of their attraction.
One thing that has made the "Greek system" sort of notorious in the U.S. is the so-called "hazing rituals" that some frats and sororities make people go through to become members. For example, where I went to school, one of the hazing rituals involved people sitting inside a closed moving truck in August Texas heat for a long time and also (if I remember right -- not like I cared that much about this...) getting peed on. But not all the groups do ridiculous stuff like that.
Halcyon+On+On
quote:
Originally posted by Vector A
They're basically a kind of social club where the aims can range from mainly making future business contacts to mostly facilitating the throwing of huge parties with lots of alcohol. Usually some attention (or at least lip service) is also given to looking after the academic performance of their members and performing charitable actions (through community service of some sort or donation drives). Almost all of them throw big parties of some sort, even the ones devoted to "business" or "community service", so that is usually part of their attraction.
One thing that has made the "Greek system" sort of notorious in the U.S. is the so-called "hazing rituals" that some frats and sororities make people go through to become members. For example, where I went to school, one of the hazing rituals involved people sitting inside a closed moving truck in August Texas heat for a long time and also (if I remember right -- not like I cared that much about this...) getting peed on. But not all the groups do ridiculous stuff like that.
Everything this man says is true, as usual. They are basically future HOAs in futile training to micromanage the details of social arrangement. Uh, from the perspective of someone who never attended an American University, of course.
Lira
quote:
quote:
Originally posted by Vector A
They're basically a kind of social club where the aims can range from mainly making future business contacts to mostly facilitating the throwing of huge parties with lots of alcohol. Usually some attention (or at least lip service) is also given to looking after the academic performance of their members and performing charitable actions (through community service of some sort or donation drives). Almost all of them throw big parties of some sort, even the ones devoted to "business" or "community service", so that is usually part of their attraction.
One thing that has made the "Greek system" sort of notorious in the U.S. is the so-called "hazing rituals" that some frats and sororities make people go through to become members. For example, where I went to school, one of the hazing rituals involved people sitting inside a closed moving truck in August Texas heat for a long time and also (if I remember right -- not like I cared that much about this...) getting peed on. But not all the groups do ridiculous stuff like that.
quote:
Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
Everything this man says is true, as usual. They are basically future HOAs in futile training to micromanage the details of social arrangement. Uh, from the perspective of someone who never attended an American University, of course.
I see, thanks! I guess I understand it a little better now.
This is all really bizarre though. The closest we have are "Academic Centres", which are clubs organised by the students of the same course in a university (for example, coming from a "Language and Literature" course, I could've joined the "Language and Literature Academic Centre" of my university... or any other really, if I had more friends studying something else). But they're not nearly as closed as these fraternities/sororities seem to be, and I still can't understand why this girl cares about what the other girls think or do. Can't she found a new group?
srussell0018
Somewhat true, still based on generalizations and stereotypes though.
Vector A
Well, I admit I wasn't in a frat, I just had friends who were, so I'm sure I don't have a complete picture. But then no one really does, since the so-called "system" involves thousands of organizations across the country...
Zharen
quote:
Originally posted by Lira
I'm not American, Zharen, this whole thing is completely alien to me, so if you could be so kind as to explain the reason behind the facepalm, I'd appreciate it. This makes no sense to a foreigner, and I'm interested in your culture, if you don't mind :rolleyes:
Alright alright. Now I've never been in a fraternity myself, but to answer your question, I believe the girl is worked up the way she is because the entire sorority has an image to present. That image being that they're cool, beautiful, fun to be around, partying and drinking. You know, all that shallow stuff. I'm guessing the frat that they were talking about, they have some sort of partnership together within the university. As expected for "cool kids" to do, is to mingle and associate with each other, party hard and do stupid things together. You know, act all cool and elitist, kinda like the atittudes on this site.
This girl is obviously concerned about her sorority holding up to that image. The girls aren't supposed to come off as quiet, awkward, and unwilling to talk to the other guys in the fraternity. She herself can only do so much, but it just looks bad on the sorority as a whole if the other girls aren't getting with the program. And the frat guys are obviously going to be quite upset with them too for not going along with it.
At least, this is what I'm getting from that email. Like I said, I'm an outsider to frats and sororities myself, so I have to generalize. :p
Halcyon+On+On
quote:
Originally posted by Lira
Can't she found a new group?
I think that's the crucial part, though; these groups have lineage, history, connections. College in US is -historically- so much less about how much you know, but just who you get to know. Naturally, everyone learns during their years there, but the kind of elitist element is who you make connections with. It's the only reason people might enroll in $10,000+ semesters; they get something only someone of such stature could buy into.
Jake Benson
I wanna be in that sorority.
djshire
All this thread and no one posted the Alison Haslip version?
How unAmerican is ing Brazil eh? Time to invade them and force feed them our superior culture.
Apparently, Lira has not even seen 'old school' either. Forget it, it's time to indoctrinate these people.
colonelcrisp
I had a bunch of friends who did the greek thing in Uni, i generally just laughed at the fact that they paid 500+ bucks a year in dues to have friends..... but in Canada, frats / sororities are not that big of a deal (outside of UWO or U of T)
