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

In Excellent Sheep, William Deresiewicz identifies some big problems with the current higher education system. Then he rambles on for a while as he explores possible individual "workarounds" for the problem.

The big issue is our current "elite" higher education system. Currently, the ruling class of the country comes primarily from a few elite universities. The Supreme Court is the domain of graduates of Harvard and Yale law schools. Government and business leaders disproportionately come from elite schools.  Even many of the upstart "tech geeks" often attended these schools. (Microsoft and Facebook were started by Harvard dropouts, Google by Stanford dropouts and Amazon by a Princeton grad.)  Admissions to these schools is based on merit, so anybody can join the elite, right?

Well, not exactly.

A century ago, the Ivies became the finishing school of the aristocracy. However, that did not mesh with the egalitarian nature of our society. So the schools created a seemingly objective admissions scheme that appeared to make things open to everyone, yet still primarily provides spots to the same people. Sure, there are legacy admissions. However, others are more nefarious. The schools look for students with high test scores, advanced classes and extra-circular activities. Parents must prep students from a young age. Expensive test prep courses are mandatory. The student will most likely need to attend an elite school - either by paying for a private school or living in an upscale suburban school district. Then there are the extra-ciriculars. These take time, money and transportation. Parents must spend a lot of money in order to get their children in the desired schools. The schools do admit a token few from less-well-to-do backgrounds, but these are the exception rather than the rule. 

Most of the students at elite colleges have been driven from a young age to follow the rules of the competition to get admitted to their desired school. Many of them continue this through college and end up as consultants because the interview process follows a similar paradigm. They are encouraged to be "sheep", doing what is required of them in the classes rather than taking part in free academic inquiry. 

While there are professors that are dedicated to instruction, many are focused on their individual research. (After all, that is most likely to get them tenure.) Students miss out on this educational opportunity. They also miss out on true connections across society. They end up in school with a diverse group of students that are all alike. They are more likely to meet a classmate from wealthy foreign family than one from a blue collar family in the midwest.

Even lower tier schools are following this pattern. Many programs are focused on getting students ready for careers, rather than finding a field they want. While a career is important, spending time studying for the wrong career may delay the entry into the desired field.

How do we solve this problem? That is the big question. The author proposes attending second tier liberal arts schools that are not so beholden to US News rankings. He also proposes more activism. Though that seems to be narrowly within the realm of "common" activities. There was some criticism of service - people are willing to go help "others" without seeing the problems internally. Religious students do have some positive characteristics. Perhaps because they are willing to be "different". Perhaps we need to really encourage more "different" students in school. Would a pure lottery help? Or perhaps one for part of the spots. And how can we fix universities and their teaching? There are plenty of big problems in need of solutions.