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A review by adamrbrooks
Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz
4.0
A really fascinating book, though I nearly gave up for a while (in fact, I stopped reading for a bit). The early part, about the very narrow world created by elite universities (and the systems to get there); a very large percentage of students end up in just a couple careers, such as investment banking and consulting.
And I also agreed a lot with pointing out the problems of education at all levels becoming targeted very narrowly on workforce development, rather than a broad view of the world.
I later found it a little tiresome when the author railed about basically that path being wrong, and that his liberal arts, whole-person path being the only correct one. I don't agree with that; I'd want students to have options, and to be aware of the pros and cons of each path (as much as young people can understand those things; I doubt I could have, which is also one one of the benefits of being young).
As Deresiewicz writes, elite students seem to only think about the choices on the menu board at Starbucks, they don't realize they can choose to go someplace else. But he seems to ONLY want people to the organic tea house.
However, the last segments of the book, looking at the way the elite colleges (and the emulation thereof) lead to or exacerbate larger social problems was great (and terrible to contemplate): The way students from a handful of schools have now become the only people running our government and our largest corporations. The inherent belief under all that -- as in generations past -- that they are at the top because they deserve to be at the top (and therefore that others didn't work as hard or don't deserve it as much).
I have a lot to continue to think about, including, "Am I part of the problem." The book is definitely worth the read, and certainly made me consider if I was ever right in pushing academic achievement on my child.
And I also agreed a lot with pointing out the problems of education at all levels becoming targeted very narrowly on workforce development, rather than a broad view of the world.
I later found it a little tiresome when the author railed about basically that path being wrong, and that his liberal arts, whole-person path being the only correct one. I don't agree with that; I'd want students to have options, and to be aware of the pros and cons of each path (as much as young people can understand those things; I doubt I could have, which is also one one of the benefits of being young).
As Deresiewicz writes, elite students seem to only think about the choices on the menu board at Starbucks, they don't realize they can choose to go someplace else. But he seems to ONLY want people to the organic tea house.
However, the last segments of the book, looking at the way the elite colleges (and the emulation thereof) lead to or exacerbate larger social problems was great (and terrible to contemplate): The way students from a handful of schools have now become the only people running our government and our largest corporations. The inherent belief under all that -- as in generations past -- that they are at the top because they deserve to be at the top (and therefore that others didn't work as hard or don't deserve it as much).
I have a lot to continue to think about, including, "Am I part of the problem." The book is definitely worth the read, and certainly made me consider if I was ever right in pushing academic achievement on my child.