Excellent Sheep Audiobook By William Deresiewicz cover art

Excellent Sheep

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

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Excellent Sheep

By: William Deresiewicz
Narrated by: Mel Foster
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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.

©2014 William Deresiewicz (P)2014 Tantor Education Sociology Student Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

"An urgent summons to a long-overdue debate over what universities do and how they do it." ( Booklist)

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I pass this title to all I know with children

Please do the same thing for your friends and family.

Best In Class!

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if I told you a book was going to save you $10,000 would you read it? how about $40,000?

read before saving for kids college education

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Fantastic reminders of how we can support our kids in the challenging system/ world we live in. Ideas challenged and myths debunked about higher education. It reassured me that there is not one right answer for anyone, and what an education really means.

Excellent

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The author does a great job outlining the elitist problem both in modern academia and the political ruling class. He makes a reasonable argument for the need of the humanities in the lives of average man and why it should be requied in every liberal arts degree. But I find his solutions a little vague and impractical. Demanding that people act against their own self interest is not likely to succeed, particularly in today's culture.

Very informative and insightful, not practical.

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I enjoyed the book, but found it to be long on prose and slow to develop. It was kind of a slow read.

Thought provoking book on huge education

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Realistically with how the world is today, this book accurately describes where we've come from and where we are going. This book has changed how I view my life. I have spent a majority of it pushing towards the same direction as my peers and after this book, I have changed how I think entirely. Worth a read.

Great book. Really made you think.

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Thought-provoking text that calls out the many failures of our educational system. Deresiewicz also offers solutions in addition to just pointing out the problems. Very interesting.

Very interesting

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This book should be given out as required reading at the first prenatal OB/ Gyn appointment to first time parents, again in Pre-K orientation, and then to all 7th grade students, high school freshmen, etc.

This sort of knocked me sideways honestly. In a good way. As my biggest regret in life was not being able to afford an elite education, I now am completely rethinking the education I was able to cobble together, complete with a sidebar move to Montana during undergrad.

We are doing it wrong in this country in so many arenas, and this book explains both how we got to a mediocre, entitled elite making all of our major policy decisions. And, how modern day parents and kids are being hoodwinked into and by the system of overparenting and a valueless and idealless education model.

Wow. Thanks Bill D. Looking forward to reading your book on artists next.

Required Reading Please!

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Very good insight on helping your college age or soon to be college bound teenagers about the glory of not knowing EXACTLY what they want to do when they "grow up"! The beauty of a Liberal Arts Education and taking their time to figure it all out!! They have the rest of their lives to be grown ups, why hurry?!

Excellent book for parents with Juniors &/or Seniors looking at Colleges!!

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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I tried to read it, then to force myself to listen to it while driving.
It was excruciating. Silence reigned.

What does Mel Foster bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mel was fine.

Was Excellent Sheep worth the listening time?

Sadly, I couldn't do it. The information is important but the material is so dry.

Important, but oh so boring.

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