h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So the Hollywood version is fact - Horror! A nasty case of life imitating art, or is it the other way round ? Ok, how about sports scholarships, surely you have to have ability in both worlds to win one of these?

Well, why do you think there are so many athletes in college? Seriously, athletes play games at schools which make alumni want to give the schools money, so most athletes have a golden ticket. Meanwhile the rest of us academics are starving and fighting for scrappy pittance scholarships.

Sorry to butt in again but:

alumni?

people who have graduated from (in the UK at least) universities (an alumni groups freuently contact you in case you've become the next Bill Gates or whatever and fancy donating substantial tracts of cash in return for having the extension to the physic block named after you. )
but I guess what with in the US people graduating from high school too, you can be an alumni of there as well!

Well, I might be confused as to what you meant. As seniors in high school, universities send out their scouts to watch for players they might like to enlist, er, to whom they might like to share the benefits of an education at so-and-so university. Yes, the alumni are the successful graduates whose pockets the universities are eyeing.

Next question. Moving on from High school, what is the fraternity/sorority system about, do all students belong to one? Is it compulsory? desirable? Do people aspire to certain houses? is it advantageous? - Do i asked too many questions ?!

As I understand it, they're similar to the different Colleges at Oxford or Cambridge, but I'm sure there's a better (and more detailed) explanation on its way...

Just how many proms do you have? I thought it would be an end of your school career thing but from some shows it looks as though you might get one at the end of each year.

We don't get them in the UK, and while it would be nice to get the opportunity to have a dress up do at school there seems to be a world of unpleasantness and competition associated with them! I think we're well out of it

With the risk of sounding cynical, they may be just a microcosm of real life after all.

in 5th year(scottish system, private school) A dance was organised. I good time was had by all that went apparently, but then we are scots and we will have a good party anycahcne we get.


i missed it though. was .

xv) Do you sing the national anthem in the morning?
Only at aforementioned pep rallies.

xvi) Do you recite a Liberty Pledge or something?
They force us to recite the Pledge of Alleigance every Monday.

xvii) Do you have Very Important 'Proms'?
One or two, but they're not all that important.

Proms- Either one or two. If there's just one, it comes near the end of your senior (last) year of high school and it's a big deal for those who make it that way, and you go out and buy a new expensive dress and get your hair done, and then you get really drunk and sleep with your date. Well not necessarily but that's the fairly accepted thing to do. Many schools hold an after prom party, generally involving ways to win money to avoid this sort of behavoir. And then after the after prom party you go out to breakfast and crash. My school didn't have prom kings/queens but we did have a Homecoming King/Queen who get elected during Homecoming Week where you have a huge pep rally and parade the candidates around at halftime of the homecoming football (American football) game, which is generally the game versus your school's biggest rival. The king/queen are announced at the Homecoming Dance.

*takes deep breath*

Fraternities/Sororities
This varies widely from school to school, but mine is fairly heavily Greek (Greek being the generic term for people who belong to one of these organizations) Stereotypically, frat guys are dumb jocks who drink all the time, hold huge parties, and try to sleep with as many sorority chicks as possible. Sorority girls are typically shallow, anorexic, and get really drunk and try to sleep with as many frat guys as possible. There's also the hazing, which ranges from making recruits drink as much as possible before they pass out to having the girls circle any parts of their bodies that "need improvement" (real story, that sorority eventually got kicked off campus) There's also a strong emphasis on sisterhood/brotherhood, and you tend to become very close friends with people in your same Greek organization and any alumni of your organization will be willing to help you out later in life. They also are required to do a certain number of hours of community service, and they do a lot of good things to help the surrounding community.

Realistically, much of the above is true. Sorority rush (where you're trying to join them) is mainly superficial, and I think you eventually get a bid (offer to join) by looking like what the other girls think that one of their sisters should be. Each diferent sorority has its own set of 2-3 Greek letters, and each one has a different stereotype on campus and people have very strong preferences as to which they want to join to the point of being in tears if they get rejected from their top choices. Guys tend to be a bit more relaxed with rush, but it's still stressful. Once you get your bid and accept it, then you have a weekend of massive partying with your new brothers and sisters, and for the next month or so you have mixers where a fraternity and sorority have a joint party so as to let everyone know each other and get drunk together.

The main highlight of fraternity life is the frat parties, which basically involve a lot of drunk, scantily clad people dancing in closed quarters in the basement of the frat house with free low quality beer. At my school sororities don't get their own houses, just wings in the sorority dormitory. Also, once you're in a Greek organization you frequently can't imagine what it's like to not be. I've been asked "You're not Greek!? What do you guys do for fun?" Also, the mixers tend to have themes to them so that everyone has to pick through their wardrobes to find the right outfit or go to WalMart and buy some cheap fabric to make an appropriate skirt. Examples include jungle themed, schoolgirls, pimps and hos.

So in conclusion, Greek life is definitely a big part of college (university) in America but not for everyone. It is definitely not compulsory, I think schools range from about 30-70 percent of the population involved for those schools that participate. There's often a strong pressure to join, and most people do enjoy it once they're involved. There are also a certain number of less stereotypical organizations ("geek frat," "fat sorority") which tend to be viewed as undesirable to join by the majority of the population for that reason and tend to have fewer students involved, and aften those who join were recruited later in the year by friends as the students tend not be the ones who wanted to go through rush in the first place.

Dang, that was long winded.

Oops, I forgot to mention formals. Each organization holds one or two fromal dances a year for its members to find dates, get dressed up and party. Sort of like proms all over again for a more restricted bunch of people.

One more from me: I noticed that there isn't a guide entry about the Greek system. Would anyone be interested in it if I were to write one?

I would be, especially if it's clearly explained and fun to read and everything.

So do people in high school also sit at desks that look like they aren't even big enough to rest your arm on? And have school bags only big enough to contain two books?

<...do people in high school also sit at desks that look like they aren't even big enough to rest your arm on?>

They're usually about 2.5' by 2'. Not big, but not really tiny.



Depends what size you buy. Mine personally can contain about 4 or 5 books, but only if I take out everything first.

Ok, Now its time for another one of my preconceptions to be aired. Do all U.S High schools have a Heather Graham, or similar look-a-like parading around? Clones !

I'm probably just ignorant, but who's that?

Just one of those young actresses that always play High school kids. I hear they're all manufactured in a sweat shop in Monterrey.