By William Deresiewicz
A groundbreaking manifesto for individuals looking for the type of perception on top, considering, and residing that elite faculties should still be—but aren't—providing.
As a professor at Yale, invoice Deresiewicz observed anything that bothered him deeply. His scholars, a number of the nation's brightest minds, have been adrift while it got here to the massive questions: find out how to imagine significantly and creatively, and the way to discover a feeling of purpose.
Excellent Sheep takes a pointy examine the high-pressure conveyor belt that starts off with mom and dad and counselors who call for excellent grades and culminates within the skewed functions Deresiewicz observed firsthand as a member of Yale's admissions committee. As colleges shift concentration from the arts to "practical" matters like economics and laptop technological know-how, scholars are wasting the facility to imagine in leading edge methods. Deresiewicz explains how collage could be a time for self-discovery, whilst scholars can determine their very own values and measures of luck, to allow them to forge their very own direction. He addresses mom and dad, scholars, educators, and a person who's drawn to the course of yankee society, that includes prices from genuine scholars and graduates he has corresponded with through the years, candidly exposing the place the procedure is damaged and obviously proposing options.
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Additional resources for Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
Example text
Some others quoted bullying of Muslim pupils as a problem that schools are failing to tackle adequately and one of them explained that ‘bullying and attacks on Muslims in state schools … are common. Some respondents mentioned the Christian bias in religious education, and the misrepresentation and denigration of Islam (‘Islamophobic religious education lessons’). A number of responses related to the high rate of exclusion of Muslim pupils. Others felt that Muslim parents are discouraged from involvement with the schools 34 FROM ISLAM TO BRITISH MUSLIMS and one felt that parents were, ‘often subtly excluded by being intimidated, made to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable within the school context’.
The young Asian Muslims seem to be more assertive in relation to their religion. A minority of respondents said that Muslims often received poor education and training, which adversely affected their employment opportunities. A number of respondents referred to factors within their own communities which limited employment opportunities. One felt that ‘Muslims themselves do not exert adequately to obtain jobs in right professions or trades’. Another said that ‘girls are often dissuaded from careers out of the house, though this varies’.
Seven features of Islamophobia were identified: Muslim cultures are seen as monolithic; Islamic cultures are substantially different from other cultures; Islam is perceived as implacably threatening; Islam’s adherents use their faith to political or military advantage; Muslim criticism of Western cultures and societies is rejected out of hand; the fear of Islam is mixed with racist hostility to immigration; and Islamophobia is assumed to be natural and unproblematic. This taxonomy of the features of Islamophobia is very relevant today.