Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
William Deresiewicz
Aug 2014 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Mel Foster
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8 hr 34 min
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About this audiobook
As a professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation's brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively, and how to find a sense of purpose.
Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale's admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to "practical" subjects like economics and computer science, students are losing the ability to think in innovative ways. Deresiewicz explains how college should be a time for self-discovery, when students can establish their own values and measures of success, so they can forge their own path. He addresses parents, students, educators, and anyone who's interested in the direction of American society, featuring quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and clearly presenting solutions.
Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale's admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to "practical" subjects like economics and computer science, students are losing the ability to think in innovative ways. Deresiewicz explains how college should be a time for self-discovery, when students can establish their own values and measures of success, so they can forge their own path. He addresses parents, students, educators, and anyone who's interested in the direction of American society, featuring quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and clearly presenting solutions.
As a professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation's brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively, and how to find a sense of purpose.
Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look ...
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1 review
Charlie H
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August 8, 2021
This book was very insightful. It for me has helped strengthen my belief that modern elite colleges and some community colleges are not what they started out as and not what I feel they should be. It has made me interested in a liberal arts education maybe. I want to go to college to become a better thinker and to build upon my current beliefs all while being open to that any of them may be incorrect. The begining of the book is more tailored to those going to elite colleges(which is not me), but the middle section I feel speaks truths about the education system that had me pausing the audio book to think about multiple times. Towards the end the book talked and had criticisms about the first two years of the Obama administration, I must say I also agree with what the author says about the former(at the time president) and while I would of guessed most previous presidents went to elite colleges I never considered the implications of that fact. Great read if you planToAttend AnyCollege.
About the author
William Deresiewicz is a contributing writer for the Nation and a contributing editor for the New Republic and the American Scholar. An associate professor of English at Yale University until 2008, he is the author of the highly acclaimed A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter.
Mel Foster, an audiobook narrator since 2002, won an Audie Award for Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey. He has also won several AudioFile Earphones Awards. Best known for mysteries, Mel has also narrated classic authors such as Thoreau, Nabokov, and Whitman.
William Deresiewicz is a contributing writer for the Nation and a contributing editor for the New Republic and the American Scholar. An associate professor of English at Yale University until 2008, he is the author of the highly acclaimed A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Lo...
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