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

In the first chapter of the book’s second section, “Self,” Deresiewicz describes the purpose of college in crafting identity. Many people think of college in strictly practical terms, as a path to a career that allows for a healthy return on the financial investment in education. Deresiewicz claims that the purpose of higher education is much deeper than this. It’s true that people need to think about having enough income to survive in modern America. However, life is more than just money and education should ideally be about developing a fully human self.

First, students should learn how to think. By this, Deresiewicz means to critically and skeptically think. Ironically, this entails unlearning what is absorbed up until high school. From experiences and, especially one’s culture and society, everyone learns a kind of narrative about the world in which they live. Plato called this doxa or common opinion. Reality may be different, but every society spins a narrative about what it would like to be. To unlearn this, students must challenge assumptions and that which they take for granted.

College is an ideal place for this because it’s not “the real world,” as many often pejoratively say. That’s precisely what makes it an ideal