I Hate the Ivy League

Riffs and Rants on Elite Education

By: Malcolm Gladwell

Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell

From Malcolm Gladwell’s hit podcast Revisionist History comes a compendium about one of his greatest obsessions: education.

Malcolm Gladwell has long relished the opportunity to skewer the upper echelons of higher education, from the institution of U.S. News & World Report’s Best College rankings to the LSATs to the luxe Bowdoin College cafeteria. I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, upends the traditional thinking around how education should work and tries to get to the bottom of why we often reward the wrong people. The higher education system follows a hierarchy that was created to primarily benefit top-tier, elite, well-off students, but Gladwell wants to find out how we can do a better job at educating the middle and make education more affordable, fair, and open to all.

Why is Gladwell so obsessed with American education? The foreword and afterword of I Hate the Ivy League explains, framing this carefully curated selection of Revisionist History episodes. If you’ve never listened to Revisionist History, this collection is a thoughtful introduction to the long-running podcast, and if you’re already a fan, it allows for careful re-examination of the important issues at hand: how do we really determine what matters most when it comes to educating our children?

Please note: This collection includes content that has been released in the podcast series.

©2021 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2021 Pushkin Industries

Absolutely different

I love the way Malcolm Gladwell respectfully challenges the way we think about higher education/college!

We can do better

Great listen. Incredibly thought provoking, very frustrating and somehow Malcolm makes it entertaining as well.

Love it!

Malcolm Gladwell always make us think! Excellent book on our prejudices and higher American education..

Outstanding as always Mr. Gladwell!!!

I've heard all of these as they were released, but combining them all together really drives the point home!

An Enjoyable, Informative Read!

Such an enjoyable, informative read. If you’re a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, this book won’t disappoint. Fair warning to friends, I’ll be talking about this book for a while. Malcolm exposes some of the fundamental absurdities and inequities within the American educational system and most notably, within our standards of college ranking. Malcolm pokes holes in everything you think you know about the predictive value of standardized testing and its real-world relevance. He also exposes the insidious lingering effects of poorly orchestrated integration efforts following Brown v. Board of Education and argues that integration should’ve begun with teachers, not students. I especially appreciated the chapter where Malcolm delved into the arbitrary considerations driving US News & World Report’s college ranking system. This is one of those books that will stick with you and challenge you to reimagine education in America.