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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPrivilege or not?
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/18-us-presidents-were-in-college-fraternities/283997/Fraternities breed leaders. That, at least, is what most any chapter website will tell you, in not so many wordsand the message certainly makes for a compelling rationale for joining the Greek system. It seems, too, to be borne out by the hard numbers. While only eight and a half percent of American male college students is a member of a fraternity, University of Kentucky professor of communication Alan DeSantis points out in his 2007 book, Inside Greek U: Fraternities, Sororities, and the Pursuit of Pleasure, those who are tend to cluster in one particular sweet spot of society: the top.
Fraternity Debate
An Atlantic Special Report
Read More
Citing data from the Center for the Study of College Fraternity, DeSantis charts some impressive figures. Fraternity men make up 85 percent of U.S. Supreme Court justices since 1910, 63 percent of all U.S. presidential cabinet members since 1900, and, historically, 76 percent of U.S. Senators, 85 percent of Fortune 500 executives,and 71 percent of the men in Whos Who in America. And thats not counting the 18 ex-frat U.S. presidents since 1877 (thats 69 percent) and the 120 Forbes 500 CEOs (24 percent) from the 2003 list, including 10or one-thirdof the top 30. In the 113th Congress alone, 38 of the hundred Senate members come from fraternity (and, now, sorority) backgrounds, as does a full quarter of the House. Is there something inherent in the fraternity culture that sends its members to the countrys top echelons?
Fraternity Debate
An Atlantic Special Report
Read More
Citing data from the Center for the Study of College Fraternity, DeSantis charts some impressive figures. Fraternity men make up 85 percent of U.S. Supreme Court justices since 1910, 63 percent of all U.S. presidential cabinet members since 1900, and, historically, 76 percent of U.S. Senators, 85 percent of Fortune 500 executives,and 71 percent of the men in Whos Who in America. And thats not counting the 18 ex-frat U.S. presidents since 1877 (thats 69 percent) and the 120 Forbes 500 CEOs (24 percent) from the 2003 list, including 10or one-thirdof the top 30. In the 113th Congress alone, 38 of the hundred Senate members come from fraternity (and, now, sorority) backgrounds, as does a full quarter of the House. Is there something inherent in the fraternity culture that sends its members to the countrys top echelons?
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Privilege or not? (Original Post)
Fumesucker
Mar 2015
OP
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)1. My first questions would be (and they ARE questions)..
1. More money that helps later on in life. ?
2. More Who-you-know that helps later in life ?
3. The top ..huh??... and this country is rated 18th in this...26th in that...47th in this..? ...and that's something to crow about ??????????????????????????????.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)2. Not dead last at everything..
Among OECD countries the US is #1 in income inequality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)3. I thought that maybe my post could have come-off as being an asshole.
I've read of stuff like this before...but when I was in college, I wasn't in a fraternity and the MAIN reason was: I didn't want to be in one. Not that wonderful people don't join but where I was, a lot of them were rich, self-important pricks so maybe? my opinion of Fraternities are quite a bit biased?
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)4. $$$$$. And people on the make join clubs.