42 pages 1 hour read

Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

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Summary and Study Guide

Overview

William Deresiewicz’s 2014 nonfiction book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life examines elite education in America in the 21st century and finds it sorely lacking. By “elite education,” Deresiewicz is referring to the Ivy League schools and a handful of top-tier universities just below the Ivy League. Having spent over two decades in the Ivies as both a student and professor, Deresiewicz speaks from his own experience and that of the many students he taught. The book originated as a 2008 article for the American Scholar entitled “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education.”

The book is divided into four sections: “Sheep,” “Self,” “Schools,” and “Society.” The first tackles the titular theme: Elite students are enormously qualified, impeccably credentialed, and extremely facile—yet as clueless and passive as a flock of sheep. Deresiewicz examines the role of students, parents, and the actual schools in indicting the whole system. In order to emphasize the situation of 2020 is not the way it has to be, he also reviews the history of Ivy League colleges since the 19th century to show how their purpose and student bodies have changed over time.

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