Excellent Sheep addresses the existentialist angst felt by the "elite" of my generation. Although I didn't attend Harvard/Princeton/Yale, I managed to join the investment banking wave after graduating from a public university. Then, I jumped through two more hoops into private equity and an elite MBA program. The first part of the text diagnoses the rampant credentialism in the U.S. that drives talented and successful people to follow the same narrow path.

In Part 1, Deresiewicz exposes the meritocratic funnel system that's led to largely undifferentiated, risk-averse elites. Starting in grade school, kids must earn top marks, lead social clubs, and captain several sports. All to earn a spot at the top universities in the world. Successful kids cannot afford to fail and most often do not. Success alone, rather than learning or socializing or growing, is seen as a worthwhile pursuit.

Then, you get into Harvard. Now what? Welcome to a new rat race, where the funnel towards investment banking and consulting begins freshman year. Rather than pursue budding passions, students often plan schedules to avoid difficult courses without "guaranteed" As. Attaining club leadership requires joining early, so students look to join as many as possible. I had one friend join 12 his freshman year and cut his load to 5 leadership positions by senior year. Why? Too hard to give up that need for success, for more credentials.

Then, you graduate and join the elite ranks of young professionals on the path to success. Goldman Sachs and Mckinsey are lined up at the door with promises of money impossible to turn down for most graduates. Join the elite! But, all along the way, did you ever figure out why you set down that path? Did you truly stop to think about what you want to achieve in your life? Probably not. It's easiest to take the path that looks good and maintains flexibility for the next rung up the ladder.

Deresiewicz examines students led through the elite system and determines that our education system is failing them. We have a lot of driven, successful, intelligent individuals without passions beyond success. Is it all that surprising that so many are driven towards high paying jobs? If you don't feel a passion for your career, why not go for the highest paying one? Then, hope you find some meaning further down the line. Excellent Sheep hit home for me. I've lived the life Deresiewicz examines. I'm more scared of failure because I've rarely failed (in my own view). It's hard to take real risks when you feel such fear.

My rant above addresses the first half of the book. The second half is interesting but more radical. The author emphasizes that he understands the difficulty of changing the system from within and offers some Bernie Sanders-style solutions to fixing education. He offers strong arguments but doesn't address any potential concerns. He's not claiming a comprehensive solution but rather adding his voice to the cacophony of voices chanting: "This is not the way it should be done." The relative weakness of the second part (less than 25% of the text) does not diminish the importance of Deresiewicz's message. To anyone looking to understand meritocracy and the explosion of high-paying finance and consulting careers, I couldn't recommend Excellent Sheep more.