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A review by neilrcoulter
Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz
3.0
I'm late to this party. Excellent Sheep made quite a splash among academics when it was published in 2014--as evidenced by the many articles praising it or excoriating it in journals such as The Chronicle of Higher Education. I've been looking forward to reading it myself, even though I knew the basic premise and quite a few of the details from having heard some of the chatter.
In general, I agree with a lot of what William Deresiewicz avers in the book. I see in my own life and in high school and college students today all of the things he talks about. For example, when he talks about the complex the high achieving students have (50ff.), feeling that there is no middle ground between grandiosity and depression--I so very much can relate to that. I deal with that every day. Reading someone else who understands that was one of those sigh-of-relief, I'm-not-alone moments.
I also understand when he writes about how universities have been overtaken by financial concerns: "Higher education increasingly resembles any other business now. What pays is in; what doesn't is under the gun" (67). I find this incredibly discouraging, both as a professor and as a parent. I agree with Deresiewicz about the value of a liberal arts education, but why did all the prestigious liberal arts colleges have to spend the past two decades making themselves into country clubs--and saddling themselves with debts from building projects that will take years of tuition increases to pay off? It's a shame that the discussion about the value of college and what college is even for must be sullied by the fact that parents are right: college is too expensive, and it doesn't seem like a great value. I don't know what the answer to that is, and Deresiewicz is better at pointing out the problems than proposing solutions.
My other problem with Excellent Sheep is Deresiewicz's inconsistent opinions about religion. At some points he mentions how religious universities are in many ways better at communicating the value and purpose of education than the elite Ivy League universities. He also points out how the idea of "service" originates in the Old Testament command, "Serve God, not Pharaoh," and the New Testament command, "Serve God, not Caesar." But then as he traces the progression of Western society and higher education (156-157, for example), he happily accepts the Enlightenment shift to science and reason, and away from religion. He views this move as inevitable and right. I wonder why he doesn't explore the possibility that the shift away from religion is a factor in the negative trends in higher education. I'm not suggesting that religion is the only reason for the decline of higher education--there are many, many reasons, of course--but surely it could be viewed as one significant factor. I found it puzzling that Deresiewicz didn't explore that path.
Another oddity of Excellent Sheep is that it's hard to tell what audience Deresiewicz is addressing. He speaks sometimes to his fellow academics, other times to parents of high school and college students, and still other times directly to the students themselves (chapter 6). It makes the book feel uneven and haphazard. Deresiewicz's angry, screed tone of voice--employed not all the time, but very often--also hinders his argument.
Another book on a similar topic, but written with a better tone and from multiple perspectives, is Liberal Arts for the Christian Life (2012), with chapters by a number of professors at Wheaton College. The multiple voices, speaking from multiple disciplines, made a very good argument for liberal arts education--from a Christian perspective specifically, but with valuable points for anyone.
In general, I agree with a lot of what William Deresiewicz avers in the book. I see in my own life and in high school and college students today all of the things he talks about. For example, when he talks about the complex the high achieving students have (50ff.), feeling that there is no middle ground between grandiosity and depression--I so very much can relate to that. I deal with that every day. Reading someone else who understands that was one of those sigh-of-relief, I'm-not-alone moments.
I also understand when he writes about how universities have been overtaken by financial concerns: "Higher education increasingly resembles any other business now. What pays is in; what doesn't is under the gun" (67). I find this incredibly discouraging, both as a professor and as a parent. I agree with Deresiewicz about the value of a liberal arts education, but why did all the prestigious liberal arts colleges have to spend the past two decades making themselves into country clubs--and saddling themselves with debts from building projects that will take years of tuition increases to pay off? It's a shame that the discussion about the value of college and what college is even for must be sullied by the fact that parents are right: college is too expensive, and it doesn't seem like a great value. I don't know what the answer to that is, and Deresiewicz is better at pointing out the problems than proposing solutions.
My other problem with Excellent Sheep is Deresiewicz's inconsistent opinions about religion. At some points he mentions how religious universities are in many ways better at communicating the value and purpose of education than the elite Ivy League universities. He also points out how the idea of "service" originates in the Old Testament command, "Serve God, not Pharaoh," and the New Testament command, "Serve God, not Caesar." But then as he traces the progression of Western society and higher education (156-157, for example), he happily accepts the Enlightenment shift to science and reason, and away from religion. He views this move as inevitable and right. I wonder why he doesn't explore the possibility that the shift away from religion is a factor in the negative trends in higher education. I'm not suggesting that religion is the only reason for the decline of higher education--there are many, many reasons, of course--but surely it could be viewed as one significant factor. I found it puzzling that Deresiewicz didn't explore that path.
Another oddity of Excellent Sheep is that it's hard to tell what audience Deresiewicz is addressing. He speaks sometimes to his fellow academics, other times to parents of high school and college students, and still other times directly to the students themselves (chapter 6). It makes the book feel uneven and haphazard. Deresiewicz's angry, screed tone of voice--employed not all the time, but very often--also hinders his argument.
Another book on a similar topic, but written with a better tone and from multiple perspectives, is Liberal Arts for the Christian Life (2012), with chapters by a number of professors at Wheaton College. The multiple voices, speaking from multiple disciplines, made a very good argument for liberal arts education--from a Christian perspective specifically, but with valuable points for anyone.