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

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.

In Part 2, Deresiewicz focuses on the purpose of college; in his view, this purpose is forming a unique identity for each student. He discusses the moral courage it takes to break free from systemic expectations to invent one’s own life. He uses George Eliot’s novel Middlemarch as a model of how a character does just that. He also examines the part that leadership plays; elite students are expected to be leaders, but Deresiewicz argues they tend to work within the system rather than create new paradigms of their own.

The third section of the book examines how schools are supposed to help students find their true self. The best method is through teaching the humanities in a liberal arts education. This does not teach content so much as the process of how to think—that is, how to skeptically view the world, ask questions, and make connections between disparate topics. This provides the depth and flexibility to adapt to an ever-changing world. However, liberal arts texts alone are not enough; informed and caring professors are necessary to guide students through them. Again, it’s not information itself that is important but rather how a person engages with it. For that, feedback over time from an experienced teacher is needed to help students formulate their thoughts, make connections, and improve their arguments as they grow intellectually. Considering this, Deresiewicz recommends that students seek out smaller liberal arts colleges instead of Ivy League schools.

The final section views the big picture by analyzing what contemporary elite education does to American society overall. Deresiewicz argues that it reinforces economic stratification, creating a club-like atmosphere at the top, filled with people telling themselves they are better than others. He ends the book by pointing to the wholesale changes needed to improve the system and wholly better society.