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“The system of elite education, which I can define at greater lengths is making kids miserable, and it's producing an elite class that's wrecking the country,” says best-selling author and essayist Bill Deresiewicz in this week’s episode of The Syllabus. Syllabus host Mark Oppenheimer discusses topics in Deresiewicz’s book Excellent Sheep, including societal pressures to attend elite colleges, overwhelming careerism, admissions competition, and increasing inequality in access to education. Guest Bio: William Deresiewicz is an essayist, critic, speaker, and author of the best-seller Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. Formerly a Yale and Columbia English professor, Deresiewicz transitioned to full-time writing and has taught or lectured at schools including Bard, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, and the University of San Diego. Deresiewicz is also active with Tivnu: Building Justice and Project Wayfinder, promoting social justice and purpose-based learning.Stay informed about this podcast and all of AJU's latest programs and offerings by subscribing to our mailing list HERE (https://www.aju.edu/about-aju/contact-aju) If you'd like to support AJU and this podcast, please consider donating to us at aju.edu/donate (https://open.aju.edu/donate/)
“The system of elite education, which I can define at greater lengths is making kids miserable, and it's producing an elite class that's wrecking the country,” says best-selling author and essayist Bill Deresiewicz in this week’s episode of The Syllabus. Syllabus host Mark Oppenheimer discusses topics in Deresiewicz’s book Excellent Sheep, including societal pressures to attend elite colleges, overwhelming careerism, admissions competition, and increasing inequality in access to education.
Guest Bio: William Deresiewicz is an essayist, critic, speaker, and author of the best-seller Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. Formerly a Yale and Columbia English professor, Deresiewicz transitioned to full-time writing and has taught or lectured at schools including Bard, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, and the University of San Diego. Deresiewicz is also active with Tivnu: Building Justice and Project Wayfinder, promoting social justice and purpose-based learning.
Stay informed about this podcast and all of AJU's latest programs and offerings by subscribing to our mailing list HERE
If you'd like to support AJU and this podcast, please consider donating to us at aju.edu/donate
Every week, a different guest joins Mark Oppenheimer to talk about politics on American college campuses. Politics are roiling college campuses across the United States. Whether the topic is the Middle East, affirmative action, Title IX, or something else, students and faculty seem to have controversial opinions—and they aren't being very civil in talking about them. To cut through the noise, and to find out what teachers and students really think, journalist, historian, sometime professor, and college administrator Mark Oppenheimer is joined by teachers, students, and administrators to give their uncensored view from the ground (or the quadrangle, or the fraternity or sorority house, or the dining hall, or the dorm, or the playing field). The Syllabus is produced by the Office of Open Learning at American Jewish University in partnership with Inside Higher Ed.