Colleges Of Wa: Fill & Download for Free

I live in Australia. See the yellow line running down near the east coast of Australia? That's the Great Dividing Range, the largest mountain range in Australia. Because the vast majority of people live east of that line, no federal politician really gives a shit about anything west of that line. State politicians in the eastern mainland states are even worse when it comes to not giving a shit about what happens west of the Great Dividing Range, because the area out there is massive and less populated, as there are fewer voters out there. This provides an unfair disparity where urban Australia gets everything, and regional Australia gets nothing. The USA doesn't have this problem, as the electoral college forces the feds to actually give a shit about fly-over America.EDIT:This is Western Australia compared to Alaska. Look at how large Western Australia is. 2 million or so of WA's 2,500,000 or so people live in Perth, the capital and largest city of Western Australia. Can you guess what percentage of WA recieves attention outside of Perth?

Today I am going to answer one of the truly big questions. It is one of the questions everyone has been wondering for years but never learned the answer to: “Why do fraternities and sororities have Greek letters for names?” I mean, why? Who came up with that idea? Why did it continue? Well, today you are going to finally learn the answer—but it is far stranger and frankly far more hilariously silly than you possibly ever imagined before now.Some historical contextFirst, let us go into a little historical context. In the United States in the late 1700s and early 1800s, higher education was almost completely dominated by the study of Latin and Ancient Greek. Prospective students were required to already know Latin in order to even apply to undergraduate school at most universities.Ancient Greek, meanwhile, was widely seen as an even more prestigious language than Latin. Latin was taught to most schoolboys; whereas if you wanted to learn Greek, you had to go to university. Knowing Ancient Greek meant you were a well-bred, cultured gentleman—a real kalos kagathos.The only language more prestigious than Ancient Greek was Hebrew, which was taught only to those university students who had mastered both Latin and Greek. That is why the official motto of Yale University, which was founded in 1702, is in Hebrew: אורים ותמים (ʾÛrîm wə-Tummîm), meaning “Light and Truth.” You could not get more pretentious than that!ABOVE: Official crest of Yale University, with their Hebrew motto emblazoned across the pages of the book and the Latin translation of it (“Lux et Veritas”) written on the banner beneath it for the less enlightenedIntroducing the Phi Beta Kappa SocietyThe very first Greek letter organization, the one that started the whole madness of Greek letter names, was the Phi Beta Kappa Society, an elite academic honor society founded on December 5, 1776 at the College of William and Mary. The society seems to have originally been very briefly called Societas Philosophae, which is Latin for “Society of Philosophy.”Long before the Phi Beta Kappa Society was founded, there was already a longstanding tradition of organizations with Latin letter names at the College of William and Mary. The earliest recorded Latin-letter society at the College of William and Mary was the F.H.C. (whose name stood for “Flat Hat Club”), which was founded in 1750. The American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson (who graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1764) was a member of it. Another Latin-letter society, the P.D.A. Society (who name stood for “Please Don’t Ask”) was founded in March of 1773.The Phi Beta Kappa Society, however, wanted to seem really prestigious and academic, so, instead of picking a Latin letter name like a common organization, they chose a motto in Ancient Greek: Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης (Philosophía Bíou Kybernḗtēs), which means, “Philosophy is the Guide of Life.” Eventually, the acronym for this motto became the name of the organization itself.ABOVE: Key of the Phi Beta Kappa SocietyThe development of other Greek letter organizationsAs soon as the Phi Beta Kappa Society named itself after a Greek acronym, other organizations started imitating them. At first, the names of all Greek letter organizations stood for mottos in Ancient Greek, which were often kept secret and revealed only to initiates.Most of these early Greek letter organizations were not exactly what we think of today when we hear the word “fraternities,” though. Although some Greek letter organizations in the United States in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries certainly bore a number of resemblances to modern fraternities, they were still basically thought of as elite honor societies and they were not nearly as prominent on college campuses as fraternities and sororities usually are today.Ironically, it was in the late nineteenth century, when the influence of classical Greek and Latin was waning, that social fraternities first became truly prominent on American college campuses. Eventually, as knowledge of Ancient Greek became less common and the study of the language became a less integral part of the American university system, most Greek letter organizations stopped having Greek mottos.Nonetheless, these organizations continued to use Greek letters in their names because that was what they had always done and, by the time they stopped having Greek mottos, Greek letter names had become traditional.The emergence of sororitiesThe first social organization for college women was the Adelphean Society, which was founded in 1851 at Wesleyan Female College, a small, private, women’s college in central Georgia. The original name of this society came from the Greek word ἀδελφός (adelphós), which means “sibling” and could be used to refer to a brother or a sister. It was later renamed Alpha Delta Pi.Originally, Greek letter organizations for women were not called sororities, but rather “female fraternities.” A Latin professor at Syracuse University named Dr. Frank Smalley, however, objected to this word, noting that frater means “brother” in Latin, so a “female fraternity” literally means “female brotherhood,” which he insisted was ridiculous and an oxymoron. Therefore, the esteemed Dr. Smalley insisted that they should be rightly called “sororities,” from Latin soror, meaning “sister.” The name eventually caught on.ABOVE: Photograph of an old building on the campus of Wesleyan Female College, where the first sorority was founded in 1851ConclusionBasically, the whole reason why modern fraternities and sororities use Greek letters for their names is because an honor society over 200 years ago was being super-pretentious and everyone else followed along until eventually they all just forgot why they started naming themselves after Greek letters to begin with. Nowadays the names of most fraternities and sororities are just random jumbles of meaningless Greek letters that do not stand for anything.(NOTE: I have also published a version of this article on my website titled “Why Do Fraternities and Sororities Have Greek Letters for Names?” Here is a link to the version of the article on my website.)

I think what a lot of people don’t immediately ponder upon when moving to another country – but is perhaps the most crucial – is the set of values.When we talk about adjusting to the local culture, abiding the common rules, learning the language, getting along with the native people, we’re really just scratching the surface. There is a delicate thread that weaves all traditions, attitudes, behaviors, common sense and identity into the fabric of culture that we all see. What truly matters are not the colors and patterns, but the perfect fit on you.What I’m trying to say is if you decide to move to Japan and be part of the 127 million people who call this home, it's important to fully grasp and accept the core of all Japanese values and eventually embody it - that is, if you wish to integrate with the locals.The core of all values and is often misunderstood by foreigners is 和 (wa) or harmony.Wa is a Japanese cultural concept that "implies a peaceful unity and conformity within a social group, in which members prefer the continuation of a harmonious community over their personal interests."[1] In other words, it is thinking about what’s best for the group first before yourself. This also means you don’t give your opinions unless asked first.Many English teachers here complain about the lack of response from their students when they ask for their opinions. It happens more so if the students are older (high school, college students, etc.). This is because in in-group thinking, they collaborate first and get a feel of what everyone thinks before they say anything to stay in good nature with everyone. Inversely, directly voicing your opinion without regard for others disrupts group harmony. So, speaking out is considered selfish and boorish. Not audacious, brave, or assertive.You can see that people coming from cultures that value audacity, bravery, and assertiveness can have problems interacting with this crowd. Americans, for example, prefer public deliberations to resolve conflicts and discuss issues whereas Japanese prefer conflict avoidance altogether (no discussions) and preserve current peace.I want to point out that this doesn’t apply only in big groups but also among friends as well. You don’t simply call your friend and say, “Hey, what are you doing? Let’s go grab a beer!” You have to say something like, “Hey, is this a good time to call you? Are you doing anything tonight? I thought I’d go out to drink and was wondering if you had some free time.” This is a very simple example and I intend for you to deduce from this a general pattern in everyday conversations.See the dialogue below and figure out how each character behaves in terms of wa:A: Oh man, it’s raining. D’you guys wanna go to the karaoke or something?B: Yeah, I love singing!A: How about you C, do you wanna go?C: Yeah, let’s do that.In the karaoke room…A: What’s up C, why aren’t you singing?C: My nose is running so I can’t really sing right now.In the concept of wa, A was inconsiderate for inviting them to go to the karaoke because it’s obvious that C’s nose was running. B was also selfish for saying yes without even reminding A that C probably couldn’t sing because of his runny nose. C went with the two and agreed because saying no would’ve disrupted the wa of the group. Now, A felt guilty for asking about karaoke and also frustrated at C for going through all that instead of simply saying no and maybe suggesting something else to do.The Japanese thing to do in this situation is to not ask about karaoke in the first place (aware that one person has a runny nose) to not put anyone in a situation of having to say no. And the Japanese thing to do if you’re in the unfortunate situation of wanting to say no is to pretend that everything is okay and say yes.Borne out of the concept of wa are the opposing concepts of honne (本音) and tatemae (建前), or true sound and facade.[2] Speaking about your true feelings, especially when you’re upset or angry or simply don’t like the other person’s idea, can make people around you uncomfortable; so, it’s always preferable to remain calm and agreeable. Japanese people do disagree with each other but this is kept at a minimum and they don’t probe into each other’s reasons.All cultures have unspoken rules of social decorum; all cultures have some sort of honne and tatemae, even in the US for example. However, some of those cultures value honesty over pretense (e.g. US, Philippines) but not so in Japan. Japanese value pretense over honesty for the sake of wa. This can be frustrating to unfamiliar foreigners because Japanese people have the tendency to say yes even though what they’re thinking is no. And the most confusing part is when they deliberately remain friendly to someone whom they actually dislike or otherwise want to get away from.See the dialogue below and find tatemae:A: Oh, I wanna stop by at the convenience store and get some sake.B: No, don't get sake, you should try this really good red wine I found the other day!A: I always prefer drinking sake.B: You really like that stuff, do you? I think it tastes like piss. You should really try this red wine, come on!A: Alright, never mind.B: Oh, you’re not getting a drink anymore?A: No, I’ll just go straight home.B: OK.They continue walking on the street together…A: Man, this place is always so quiet.B: I know, right?A: Wait, do you smell that? There must be a yakitori stand around here somewhere.B: Wow, it does smells good.A: Oh, there it is! I knew there’s one close by.Later that evening, B gets a text from A saying they shouldn’t hang out again.Did you see what happened? B was rude when he pushed red wine and said that A’s preferred drink tasted like urine. That rude behavior irritated A but A pretended everything was OK. They continued talking to each other casually like nothing happened until they parted their ways.Pretending as if he wasn’t offended was tatemae. A did NOT pretend that he's okay to intentionally stab B in the back. He wanted to keep their awkward time amicable and less awkward because it would’ve been rude and childish for A to tell B directly that he was offended. In American culture, it’s logical to simply say, “I really want you to stop pushing your wine to me and also stop calling my drink piss.” Not so in Japanese culture. (Again, this is a simplified example to help you deduce from it a general pattern.)Why is it childish and frowned upon to confront someone and say that their behavior is unpleasant? And how do you resolve conflicts while keeping in line with wa?To answer this question, you have to understand the virtue of silence.沈黙は金、雄弁は銀Silence is gold, eloquence is silver.言わぬが花Some things are better left unsaid.In Japan, they use silence to ponder about the situation and also cool off an emotion that’s boiling inside. When someone misbehaves on the train or anywhere out in public, the surrounding people ignore because saying anything usually just exacerbates the problem. So, when one is confronted by a belligerent individual, instead of arguing back, they respond with silence. Some people do talk back but these people are well aware that they themselves are also going against public manner. They wouldn’t be surprised if, say, their friend told them they’re acting childish for talking back to the belligerent individual.So, how do you resolve conflicts? I asked my Japanese friend how they could do that if they don’t even talk about the problems in the first place.日本人は、昔から察して謙虚にすることに美徳を感じる文化だから、そもそも問題解決のアプローチが根本的に全く違う。Japanese people have always considered it a virtue to remain modest while sensing other people’s feelings, so conflict resolution is completely different [from Americans].He explained that they don’t confront the other person because that disrupts wa, which in turn makes everyone uncomfortable. Further, confronting the other person is usually the last straw where they’re both already too emotional and impenetrable with logic and reason. All hell breaks loose. In the concept of wa, the correct way of approaching conflict is silence. What foreign people may perceive as coldness or passive aggression, Japanese perceive as manners and maturity.But consequence to a culture of conflict avoidance are people with fragile argumentation and critical thinking skills (note the difference from scientific thinking). According to Derryl Hermanutz here on Quora, “scientific thinking works within the dominant conceptual paradigm; whereas critical thinking questions the assumptions that comprise the ‘facts’ that form the boundaries of the scientific paradigm.”[3]The skills in argumentation and critical thinking are not in-born and require constant practice until mastery. My studies in the field of Rhetoric taught me that public deliberation is the answer to resolving conflicts within a group of different stakeholders. And effective deliberation or argumentation is difficult. Done wrong and people fight, nations go to war. That’s because our opinion are deeply rooted in our egos, in our values, and in our identities. This is also the reason that Japanese, untrained in argumentation, feels threatened when confronted with an opposing opinion.I once talked with a Japanese scientist who recalled his traumatic experience presenting his research at an academic committee abroad. He told me his story in disbelief that his colleagues would rip his research apart and criticize his arguments. I realized that this person probably has never confronted criticisms before. And sure enough, that is antithetical to wa.Another one, the manager at my part time job recounted a conversation he had with one of his employees who expressed interest in sending her children to the US to learn how to debate. He found her idea incredulous and immediately judged her a troublemaker. I asked if he didn’t think that debating fosters critical thinking skills to have a better opinion about public policies and social issues. He snapped, “Why? If you wanna do that, you should go to school, get your PhD and work for the government or something.”Debating and discussions are not for the common people; they’re for professionals: politicians, professors, academics, legislators, etc.Challenging opinions is not playing by the rules of wa. You’re hitting the baseball with a racket or you’re jumping on your opponent in soccer. It’s foul and you run the risk of losing your acquaintance or friend. When I try to engage my Japanese friends in (for me, important) discussions, they don’t really have substantial opinions. (But neither are they stupid.) The very few that did have opinions told me that it’s actually a taboo to discuss politics in Japan or that people just don’t discuss social issues casually.Discussions incite disagreements and inciting disagreements is contrary to wa. The resolution to dispute is not deliberation but silence. And even silence is the last resort because what people usually do is read the air.Kuuki wo yomu (空気を読む) or literally “reading the air” means sensing the mood in the air and adapting to a subtle situation.[4] Earlier I said Japanese people collaborate first and get a feel of what everyone thinks before they say anything to stay in good nature with everyone and preserve wa. That process is reading the air.So, if someone invites you to go to the karaoke, you should first survey everyone’s expression (does everyone look excited?) and situation (does anyone look like they might not enjoy singing?) before giving your opinion. When you see that Taro has a runny nose, even though he said yes, you should read the air and detect that that is tatemae and say something like, “I’d love to go but it might be difficult for Taro to sing today because of his runny nose.” At that point, everyone would be comfortable to say that maybe they should consider something else.Because of this disposition to read the air, Japanese people are essentially trained never to take words at face value and always read between the lines. If someone asked you if you have time to help proofread their English paper and say, “I have work today but I can do it when I get back tonight,” they read that as a no. Even if you insist, “No, really, I don’t mind doing it,” they’d see that as tatemae and politely thank you but refuse you. The Japanese yes would be something like, “Yeah, sure. I have free time tonight and I can do that later.”I have a friend whom I asked many times to proofread my Japanese. Each time I asked her if it was a good time and she always said yes. One time I sensed that her mood was a little off and prodded her what’s wrong. She spilled the beans and said that she’s shocked I even asked her if it was a good time when obviously (to her but not to me, apparently) that it’s not. I was equally amazed as I thought asking beforehand was polite – it’s not polite in the concept of wa. I failed to read the air.Reading the air is very effective within a shared cultural context, where all members of the community grew up in the same values, mores, traditions, and experiences. This is particular among what anthropologist Edward T. Hall calls high-context cultures. “In high-context cultures, the way words are said is more important than the words themselves, so many things left unsaid, relying on the context of the moment and the culture as a whole to impart meaning.”[5] Contrast this with low-context cultures where people communicate explicitly, with words that have a clear meaning and no implications, like the US.But what if you lack this shared experience? What if you grew up in a different culture with a different set of social code of ethics like, say, if you’re a foreigner? Then these noble virtues of silence and reading the air become a constant source of frustration.Frustration eats within you and you get angry, but showing anger is immature. You want to cry but crying is for children. Emotionality signs a lack of self-control – antithetical to wa. Japanese people value the equilibrium of all emotions. They find bliss in the perfect calm. Even happiness is not the jumping-in-joy happiness. Romanticism is foreign and juvenile. That’s why they don’t obsess with “I love you” like they do in passionate cultures, like Latin America and Western Europe. Spontaneity is a nuisance. Passion is imbalance. Subtlety is bliss. Stability is calm. And you achieve that through gaman.Gaman (我慢) or self-control is keeping silent when the other person is angry; putting an agreeable face when true feelings would otherwise incite conflict; enduring an undesirable situation to preserve peace; and restraining instinctive impulses to attain calm. School teachers start ingraining gaman through mandatory club activities. I was surprised to learn that some schools required yearly marathons – longer than what’s required in the US Navy. Some clubs make students stand in the sun for a long time. And I thought it was supposed to be for fun.In my experience doing school club activities in the Philippines, it was for physical fitness and community building. But apparently not exactly so in Japan. One of my Japanese teachers insisted that hard training in club activities had been instituted to impart gaman among students. That’s why half of the people I’ve asked about their experiences recoiled from the unpleasant memories of hard training.The result? Citizens with incredible capacity for patience and self-control. People lining up for hours on end to ride a single attraction, buy cotton candy, eat ramen. Or simply line up because others are lining up. People who don’t seem to ever get angry. People who are content with the status quo. Who are content with what is. An internationally competitive economy, high-quality manufactured goods, exceptionally low crime, immaculate streets, quiet neighborhoods, universal healthcare, reliable public transportation, a very comfortable life.In Civilization and Its Discontents[6] by Sigmund Freud, he said that humans have natural proclivity towards violence and bodily pleasures and the need to satiate them. But as the world becomes complex, the need to co-depend with other humans and form civilizations arise. However, functional civilizations require strict rules that suppress our inner animal instincts. Hence, we get a dilemma where you either have (1) a functional civilization with bored and miserable individuals pushed to insanity or (2) free and satiated individuals in a dystopic or anarchic civilization.Now, Freud’s description is a lose-lose situation, but try thinking of it in a win-win situation where the type 1 civilization has not bored and miserable individuals but people who learned to find balance and contentment in the rigidity; and the type 2 civilization has not dystopia and anarchy but a social structure with changing rules that keep the society in constant check, preventing chaos.I would put Japan in the type 1 civilization with lower tolerance for risky and passionate ventures but a very safe and ordered community; and US in the type 2 civilization with higher tolerance for trying new things and changing the rules of the land but a relatively chaotic and unpredictable society. Neither are perfect but both nonetheless considered highly developed countries.So what Japanese values are difficult for foreigners to assimilate to?The following paired terms are Japanese values where the terms on the left supersede the terms on the right.Wa (和)Subtle > DirectSafe > ExcitingPolite > AssertiveOrder > SensationCalm > VivaciousHarmony > LibertyCommon > UniquePrivacy > OpennessStable > AmbitiousAgreeing > DebatingStructured > FlexibleCompliant > ResistantMediocrity > MadnessTradition > InnovationPlanned > SpontaneousComfortable > PassionateImplications > ArticulationCooperativeness > IndependenceGroup interest > Individual interestFalse face to maintain peace > HonestyLighthearted topics > Deep conversation topicsIgnoring conflicts > Deliberation and resolutionEmotional self-control > Vivid emotional expressionForeigners in Japan need to understand and accept the hierarchy of values: those on the left supersede the values to their right. I don’t mean to say that the values on the right don’t exist in Japan. It’s just that more than likely, people will prefer those on the left.Just like when choosing a partner, physical attraction and chemistry all wither eventually. What’s really important is that you share the same values and accept each other. If your wife wants to be a stay-at-home mom but you don’t want children, she wants to buy a house but you don’t, and she hates travelling but you’re a travel bug; no matter how physically attractive she may be, you might just be unhappy in the long run.So, I think the most common or the hardest problem one has to face when living in Japan (especially long-term) is misaligned values.Living in another country is like marrying someone. You have to accept their values, and love their beauty, shortcomings, and idiosyncrasies.Footnotes[1] Wa (Japanese culture) - Wikipedia[2] Honne and tatemae - Wikipedia[3] What are the differences between scientific and critical thinking?[4] Why You Need To Read The Air in Japan[5] High-context and low-context cultures - Wikipedia[6] Civilization and Its Discontents