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A review by johannalm
Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz
4.0
Excellent Sheep - The Miseducation of the American Elite & the Way to a Meaningful Life. William Deresiewicz
Well, it was a perfect time for me to read this book and I recommend it to any friends and their kids who are on the way to college or even there already. It really gives you a lot to think about in terms of what it means to get an education. And, why we think/believe the ivys and the other top 20 or so schools are the only way to ensure our children succeed in life.
Deresiewicz spent many years being educated by the ivy league and then teaching there, and he is not happy with what he learned about those schools and the kids who attend them. He is disturbed by the fact that entry to these schools requires families with money to help the kids with tutors, service trips, extracurricular activities, test prep and then money to pay tuition. That the meritocracy perpetuates itself through elite education and access to it and then churns out kids who go into finance, consulting, law or medicine to ensure the wealthy remain wealthy and elite. He is sad that there are so few kids who are different or extraordinary doing off-beat, creative things, and that students are not taught to think any longer. Students just ride the tide to one of the major professions and get a vocation instead of an education. Also, the schools prioritize research, which brings in money and big names, but makes teaching secondary. Why are the schools not teaching kids how to learn for the sake of learning? Why are they not allowed to figure out what they are really passionate about, instead of doing what is proscribed for them? Even doing good or community service if for resume building. Of course not every kid fits in this mold but given the huge class inequality in this country that this system perpetuates, his book is timely and necessary. He's not the first to say these things but he is the first to take time to talk to the kids when he is touring and in the book.
He says -
Don't be a conformist. Don't be mediocre. Be a skeptic, build your mind and not your resume. Learn to learn in college to be able to use creativity and take risks in order to really lead. He points out that many businesses are now looking for graduates with liberal arts backgrounds because it is that kind of education -- in small seminars with teachers there teaching instead of grad students -- that teach these kids how to look at the big picture and consider different ways to solve problems.
There is hope if:
Kids focus on the liberal arts offered - history, comparative religion, literature and the arts - if the class size is small to encourage conversations and debate. Even at the big schools kids should find a way to take courses outside of their proscribed area - don't focus just on economics or the sciences without adding the arts.
The bigger problem is the perpetuation of the system that supports the elite and produces risk adverse, uncreative kids with an enormous sense of entitlement, focused on individual aggrandizement. We see this on Wall Street and in politics and the gap between rich and poor. You can't know the other if you are never exposed to them and at the elite institutions diversity does not include class difference.
Deresiewicz does offer solutions, but they are going to be hard to swallow - more money to public colleges to make them accessible to all, along with national equal funding for public K to 12 so that everyone has an opportunity to get a higher education from the beginning. Let's not exacerbate inequality anymore. Let's not retard social mobility or perpetuate privilege. Let's make it acceptable to give more so that others have options in life as well. Quite the read.
Well, it was a perfect time for me to read this book and I recommend it to any friends and their kids who are on the way to college or even there already. It really gives you a lot to think about in terms of what it means to get an education. And, why we think/believe the ivys and the other top 20 or so schools are the only way to ensure our children succeed in life.
Deresiewicz spent many years being educated by the ivy league and then teaching there, and he is not happy with what he learned about those schools and the kids who attend them. He is disturbed by the fact that entry to these schools requires families with money to help the kids with tutors, service trips, extracurricular activities, test prep and then money to pay tuition. That the meritocracy perpetuates itself through elite education and access to it and then churns out kids who go into finance, consulting, law or medicine to ensure the wealthy remain wealthy and elite. He is sad that there are so few kids who are different or extraordinary doing off-beat, creative things, and that students are not taught to think any longer. Students just ride the tide to one of the major professions and get a vocation instead of an education. Also, the schools prioritize research, which brings in money and big names, but makes teaching secondary. Why are the schools not teaching kids how to learn for the sake of learning? Why are they not allowed to figure out what they are really passionate about, instead of doing what is proscribed for them? Even doing good or community service if for resume building. Of course not every kid fits in this mold but given the huge class inequality in this country that this system perpetuates, his book is timely and necessary. He's not the first to say these things but he is the first to take time to talk to the kids when he is touring and in the book.
He says -
Don't be a conformist. Don't be mediocre. Be a skeptic, build your mind and not your resume. Learn to learn in college to be able to use creativity and take risks in order to really lead. He points out that many businesses are now looking for graduates with liberal arts backgrounds because it is that kind of education -- in small seminars with teachers there teaching instead of grad students -- that teach these kids how to look at the big picture and consider different ways to solve problems.
There is hope if:
Kids focus on the liberal arts offered - history, comparative religion, literature and the arts - if the class size is small to encourage conversations and debate. Even at the big schools kids should find a way to take courses outside of their proscribed area - don't focus just on economics or the sciences without adding the arts.
The bigger problem is the perpetuation of the system that supports the elite and produces risk adverse, uncreative kids with an enormous sense of entitlement, focused on individual aggrandizement. We see this on Wall Street and in politics and the gap between rich and poor. You can't know the other if you are never exposed to them and at the elite institutions diversity does not include class difference.
Deresiewicz does offer solutions, but they are going to be hard to swallow - more money to public colleges to make them accessible to all, along with national equal funding for public K to 12 so that everyone has an opportunity to get a higher education from the beginning. Let's not exacerbate inequality anymore. Let's not retard social mobility or perpetuate privilege. Let's make it acceptable to give more so that others have options in life as well. Quite the read.