Super Short Summary

Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz critiques 21st-century elite education in America, particularly Ivy League institutions, revealing their failure to cultivate independent thinking and meaningful lives in students. Divided into four sections—“Sheep,” “Self,” “Schools,” and “Society”—the book explores the stifling conformity among elite students, the purpose of higher education, the importance of the humanities, and the broader societal impacts of an exclusive, stratified educational system.