Summary Of Excellent Sheep

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Excellent Sheep, written by former Yale Professor William Deresiewicz, outlines the current higher education system in the United States. In this book, Deresiewicz gives critique and praise to two different types of higher education institutions: elite schools and liberal arts schools. The author analyzes how society as a whole views the higher education system and how it is (or is not) used as a time of growth in a young adult’s life. In Excellent Sheep, there is a lot of criticism revolving Ivy League schools such as Yale, Stanford, and Harvard; and how they tend to prepare their students for their certain career path. The author did a great job analyzing the different institutions within the higher education system, but he did an especially …show more content…
Unsurprisingly, at the time that Excellent Sheep was published, finance and consulting were the most coveted careers (17). The pressure student’s face when choosing a career path can come from family, but also from the institutions themselves. Deresiewicz stated that half of the Harvard Class of 2007 had jobs lined up after graduation in those two (finance and consulting) industries (17). Elite schools offer very little options regarding exploration classes once they entire the university. For that reason, it seems that students fall into what is most popular or well-regarded. Ivy League schools like to make the claim towards incoming students and current students that they can help with job placement within those industries. These institutions also realize that urging students into high paying careers can lead to very generous alumni after …show more content…
It seems to be a widely known belief that Ivy League schools challenge their students to their upmost abilities. While students entering into this institutions are extremely smart, well-read, and well-versed; the author claims that elite schools do not do much in order to further the student’s knowledge. This is a topic that may come as a surprise to many individuals. The wide society views these institutions as the most challenging and highly regarded, but it is a proven fact that GPA inflation is present at these places of higher education (65). This can be discouraging for many high school graduates to hear, as they are making their final decisions on where they wish to pursue their undergraduate degree, but the author gives his take on the best institutions for actually gaining knowledge while experiencing the underlying importance of

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