Podcasts about Excellent Sheep

So why did Harris lose in 2024? For one very big reason, according to the progressive essayist Bill Deresiewicz: “because she represented the exhausted Democratic establishment”. This rotting establishment, Deresiewicz believes, is symbolized by both the collective denial of Biden's mental decline and by Harris' pathetically rudderless Presidential campaign. But there's a much more troubling problem with the Democratic party, he argues. It has become “the party of institutionalized liberalism, which is itself exhausted”. So how to reinvent American liberalism in the 2020's? How to make the left once again, in Deresiewicz words, “the locus of openness, playfulness, productive contention, experiment, excess, risk, shock, camp, mirth, mischief, irony and curiosity"? That's the question for all progressives in our MAGA/Woke age. 5 Key Takeaways * Deresiewicz believes the Democratic establishment and aligned media engaged in a "tacit cover-up" of Biden's condition and other major issues like crime, border policies, and pandemic missteps rather than addressing them honestly.* The liberal movement that began in the 1960s has become "exhausted" and the Democratic Party is now an uneasy alliance of establishment elites and working-class voters whose interests don't align well.* Progressive institutions suffer from a repressive intolerance characterized by "an unearned sense of moral superiority" and a fear of vitality that leads to excessive rules, bureaucracy, and speech codes.* While young conservatives are creating new movements with energy and creativity, the progressive establishment stifles innovation by purging anyone who "violates the code" or criticizes their side.* Rebuilding the left requires creating conditions for new ideas by ending censoriousness, embracing true courage that risks something real, and potentially building new institutions rather than trying to reform existing ones. Full Transcript Andrew Keen: Hello, everyone. It's the old question on this show, Keen on America, how to make sense of this bewildering, frustrating, exciting country in the wake, particularly of the last election. A couple of years ago, we had the CNN journalist who I rather like and admire, Jake Tapper, on the show. Arguing in a piece of fiction that he thinks, to make sense of America, we need to return to the 1970s. He had a thriller out a couple of years ago called All the Demons Are Here. But I wonder if Tapper's changed his mind on this. His latest book, which is a sensation, which he co-wrote with Alex Thompson, is Original Sin, President Biden's Decline, its Cover-up and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. Tapper, I think, tells the truth about Biden, as the New York Times notes. It's a damning portrait of an enfeebled Biden protected by his inner circle. I would extend that, rather than his inner circle protected by an elite, perhaps a coastal elite of Democrats, unable or unwilling to come to terms with the fact that Biden was way, way past his shelf life. My guest today, William Deresiewicz—always get his last name wrong—it must be...William Deresiewicz: No, that was good. You got it.Andrew Keen: Probably because I'm anti-semitic. He has a new piece out called "Post-Election" which addresses much of the rottenness of the American progressive establishment in 2025. Bill, congratulations on the piece.William Deresiewicz: Thank you.Andrew Keen: Have you had a chance to look at this Tapper book or have you read about Original Sin?William Deresiewicz: Yeah, I read that piece. I read the piece that's on the screen and I've heard some people talking about it. And I mean, as you said, it's not just his inner circle. I don't want to blame Tapper. Tapper did the work. But one immediate reaction to the debate debacle was, where have the journalists been? For example, just to unfairly call one person out, but they're just so full of themselves, the New Yorker dripping with self-congratulations, especially in its centennial year, its boundless appetite for self-celebration—to quote something one of my students once said about Yale—they've got a guy named Evan Osnos, who's one of their regulars on their political...Andrew Keen: Yeah, and he's been on the show, Evan, and in fact, I rather like his, I was going to say his husband, his father, Peter Osnos, who's a very heavy-hitting ex-publisher. But anyway, go on. And Evan's quite a nice guy, personally.William Deresiewicz: I'm sure he's a nice guy, but the fact is he's not only a New Yorker journalist, but he wrote a book about Biden, which means that he's presumably theoretically well-sourced within Biden world. He didn't say anything. I mean, did he not know or did he know?Andrew Keen: Yeah, I agree. I mean you just don't want to ask, right? You don't know. But you're a journalist, so you're supposed to know. You're supposed to ask. So I'm sure you're right on Osnos. I mean, he was on the show, but all journalists are progressives, or at least all the journalists at the Times and the New Yorker and the Atlantic. And there seemed to be, as Jake Tapper is suggesting in this new book, and he was part of the cover-up, there seemed to be a cover-up on the part of the entire professional American journalist establishment, high-end establishment, to ignore the fact that the guy running for president or the president himself clearly had no idea of what was going on around him. It's just astonishing, isn't it? I mean, hindsight's always easy, of course, 2020 in retrospect, but it was obvious at the time. I made it clear whenever I spoke about Biden, that here was a guy clearly way out of his depth, that he shouldn't have been president, maybe shouldn't have been president in the first place, but whatever you think about his ideas, he clearly was way beyond his shelf date, a year or two into the presidency.William Deresiewicz: Yeah, but here's the thing, and it's one of the things I say in the post-election piece, but I'm certainly not the only person to say this. There was an at least tacit cover-up of Biden, of his condition, but the whole thing was a cover-up, meaning every major issue that the 2024 election was about—crime, at the border, woke excess, affordability. The whole strategy of not just the Democrats, but this media establishment that's aligned with them is to just pretend that it wasn't happening, to explain it away. And we can also throw in pandemic policy, right? Which people were still thinking about and all the missteps in pandemic policy. The strategy was effectively a cover-up. We're not gonna talk about it, or we're gonna gaslight you, or we're gonna make excuses. So is it a surprise that people don't trust these establishment institutions anymore? I mean, I don't trust them anymore and I want to trust them.Andrew Keen: Were there journalists? I mean, there were a handful of journalists telling the truth about Biden. Progressives, people on the left rather than conservatives.William Deresiewicz: Ezra Klein started to talk about it, I remember that. So yes, there were a handful, but it wasn't enough. And you know, I don't say this to take away from Ezra Klein what I just gave him with my right hand, take away with my left, but he was also the guy, as soon as the Kamala succession was effected, who was talking about how Kamala in recent months has been going from strength to strength and hasn't put a foot wrong and isn't she fantastic. So all credit to him for telling the truth about Biden, but it seems to me that he immediately pivoted to—I mean, I'm sure he thought he was telling the truth about Harris, but I didn't believe that for one second.Andrew Keen: Well, meanwhile, the lies about Harris or the mythology of Harris, the false—I mean, all mythology, I guess, is false—about Harris building again. Headline in Newsweek that Harris would beat Donald Trump if an election was held again. I mean I would probably beat—I would beat Trump if an election was held again, I can't even run for president. So anyone could beat Trump, given the situation. David Plouffe suggested that—I think he's quoted in the Tapper book—that Biden totally fucked us, but it suggests that somehow Harris was a coherent progressive candidate, which she wasn't.William Deresiewicz: She wasn't. First of all, I hadn't seen this poll that she would beat Trump. I mean, it's a meaningless poll, because...Andrew Keen: You could beat him, Bill, and no one can even pronounce your last name.William Deresiewicz: Nobody could say what would actually happen if there were a real election. It's easy enough to have a hypothetical poll. People often look much better in these kinds of hypothetical polls where there's no actual election than they do when it's time for an election. I mean, I think everyone except maybe David Plouffe understands that Harris should never have been a candidate—not just after Biden dropped out way too late, but ever, right? I mean the real problem with Biden running again is that he essentially saddled us with Harris. Instead of having a real primary campaign where we could have at least entertained the possibility of some competent people—you know, there are lots of governors. I mean, I'm a little, and maybe we'll get to this, I'm little skeptical that any normal democratic politician is going to end up looking good. But at least we do have a whole bunch of what seem to be competent governors, people with executive experience. And we never had a chance to entertain any of those people because this democratic establishment just keeps telling us who we're going to vote for. I mean, it's now three elections in a row—they forced Hillary on us, and then Biden. I'm not going to say they forced Biden on us although elements of it did. It probably was a good thing because he won and he may have been the only one who could have won. And then Harris—it's like reductio ad absurdum. These candidates they keep handing us keep getting worse and worse.Andrew Keen: But it's more than being worse. I mean, whatever one can say about Harris, she couldn't explain why she wanted to be president, which seems to me a disqualifier if you're running for president. The point, the broader point, which I think you bring out very well in the piece you write, and you and I are very much on the same page here, so I'm not going to criticize you in your post-election—William Deresiewicz: You can criticize me, Andrew, I love—Andrew Keen: I know I can criticize you, and I will, but not in this particular area—is that these people are the establishment. They're protecting a globalized world, they're the coast. I mean, in some ways, certainly the Bannonite analysis is right, and it's not surprising that they're borrowing from Lenin and the left is borrowing from Edmund Burke.William Deresiewicz: Yeah, I mean I think, and I think this is the real problem. I mean, part of what I say in the piece is that it just seems, maybe this is too organicist, but there just seems to be an exhaustion that the liberal impulse that started, you know, around the time I was born in 1964, and I cite the Dylan movie just because it's a picture of that time where you get a sense of the energy on the left, the dawning of all this exciting—Andrew Keen: You know that movie—and we've done a show on that movie—itself was critical I guess in a way of Dylan for not being political.William Deresiewicz: Well, but even leaving that aside, just the reminder you get of what that time felt like. That seems in the movie relatively accurate, that this new youth culture, the rights revolution, the counterculture, a new kind of impulse of liberalism and progressivism that was very powerful and strong and carried us through the 60s and 70s and then became the establishment and has just become completely exhausted now. So I just feel like it's just gotten to the end of its possibility. Gotten to the end of its life cycle, but also in a less sort of mystical way. And I think this is a structural problem that the Democrats have not been able to address for a long time, and I don't see how they're going to address it. The party is now the party, as you just said, of the establishment, uneasily wedded to a mainly non-white sort of working class, lower class, maybe somewhat middle class. So it's sort of this kind of hybrid beast, the two halves of which don't really fit together. The educated upper middle class, the professional managerial class that you and I are part of, and then sort of the average Black Latino female, white female voter who doesn't share the interests of that class. So what are you gonna do about that? How's that gonna work?Andrew Keen: And the thing that you've always given a lot of thought to, and it certainly comes out in this piece, is the intolerance of the Democratic Party. But it's an intolerance—it's not a sort of, and I don't like this word, it's not the fascist intolerance of the MAGA movement or of Trump. It's a repressive intolerance, it's this idea that we're always right and if you disagree with us, then there must be something wrong with you.William Deresiewicz: Yeah, right. It's this, at this point, completely unearned sense of moral superiority and intellectual superiority, which are not really very clearly distinguished in their mind, I think. And you know, they just reek of it and people hate it and it's understandable that they hate it. I mean, it's Hillary in a word. It's Hillary in a word and again, I'm wary of treading on this kind of ground, but I do think there's an element of—I mean, obviously Trump and his whole camp is very masculinist in a very repulsive way, but there is also a way to be maternalist in a repulsive way. It's this kind of maternal control. I think of it as the sushi mom voice where we're gonna explain to you in a calm way why you should listen to us and why we're going to control every move you make. And it's this fear—I mean what my piece is really about is this sort of quasi-Nietzschean argument for energy and vitality that's lacking on the left. And I think it's lacking because the left fears it. It fears sort of the chaos of the life force. So it just wants to shackle it in all of these rules and bureaucracy and speech codes and consent codes. It just feels lifeless. And I think everybody feels that.Andrew Keen: Yeah, and it's the inability to imagine you can be wrong. It's the moral greediness of some people, at least, who think of themselves on the left. Some people might be listening to this, thinking it's just these two old white guys who think themselves as progressives but are actually really conservative. And all this idea of nature is itself chilling, that it's a kind of anti-feminism.William Deresiewicz: Well, that's b******t. I mean, let me have a chance to respond. I mean I plead guilty to being an old white man—Andrew Keen: I mean you can't argue with that one.William Deresiewicz: I'm not arguing with it. But the whole point rests on this notion of positionality, like I'm an older white man, therefore I think this or I believe that, which I think is b******t to begin with because, you know, down the street there's another older white guy who believes the exact opposite of me, so what's the argument here? But leaving that aside, and whether I am or am not a progressive—okay, my ideal politician is Bernie Sanders, so I'll just leave it at that. The point is, I mean, one point is that feminism hasn't always been like this. Second wave feminism that started in the late sixties, when I was a little kid—there was a censorious aspect to it, but there was also this tremendous vitality. I mean I think of somebody like Andrea Dworkin—this is like, "f**k you" feminism. This is like, "I'm not only not gonna shave my legs, I'm gonna shave my armpits and I don't give a s**t what you think." And then the next generation when I was a young man was the Mary Gates, Camille Paglia, sex-positive power feminism which also had a different kind of vitality. So I don't think feminism has to be the feminism of the women's studies departments and of Hillary Clinton with "you can't say this" and "if you want to have sex with me you have to follow these 10 rules." I don't think anybody likes that.Andrew Keen: The deplorables!William Deresiewicz: Yes, yes, yes. Like I said, I don't just think that the enemies don't like it, and I don't really care what they think. I think the people on our side don't like it. Nobody is having fun on our side. It's boring. No one's having sex from what they tell me. The young—it just feels dead. And I think when there's no vitality, you also have no creative vitality. And I think the intellectual cul-de-sac that the left seems to be stuck in, where there are no new ideas, is related to that.Andrew Keen: Yeah, and I think the more I think about it, I think you're right, it's a generational war. All the action seems to be coming from old people, whether it's the Pelosis and the Bidens, or it's people like Richard Reeves making a fortune off books about worrying about young men or Jonathan Haidt writing about the anxious generation. Where are, to quote David Bowie, the young Americans? Why aren't they—I mean, Bill, you're in a way guilty of this. You made your name with your book, Excellent Sheep about the miseducation...William Deresiewicz: Yeah, so what am I guilty of exactly?Andrew Keen: I'm not saying you're all, but aren't you and Reeves and Haidt, you're all involved in this weird kind of generational war.William Deresiewicz: OK, let's pump the brakes here for a second. Where the young people are—I mean, obviously most people, even young people today, still vote for Democrats. But the young who seem to be exploring new things and having energy and excitement are on the right. And there was a piece—I'm gonna forget the name of the piece and the author—Daniel Oppenheimer had her on the podcast. I think it appeared in The Point. Young woman. Fairly recent college graduate, went to a convention of young republicans, I don't know what they call themselves, and also to democrats or liberals in quick succession and wrote a really good piece about it. I don't think she had ever written anything before or published anything before, but it got a lot of attention because she talked about the youthful vitality at this conservative gathering. And then she goes to the liberals and they're all gray-haired men like us. The one person who had anything interesting to say was Francis Fukuyama, who's in his 80s. She's making the point—this is the point—it's not a generational war, because there are young people on the right side of the spectrum who are doing interesting things. I mean, I don't like what they're doing, because I'm not a rightist, but they're interesting, they're different, they're new, there's excitement there, there's creativity there.Andrew Keen: But could one argue, Bill, that all these labels are meaningless and that whatever they're doing—I'm sure they're having more sex than young progressives, they're having more fun, they're able to make jokes, they are able, for better or worse, to change the system. Does it really matter whether they claim to be MAGA people or leftists? They're the ones who are driving change in the country.William Deresiewicz: Yes, they're the ones who are driving change in the country. The counter-cultural energy that was on the left in the sixties and seventies is now on the right. And it does matter because they are operating in the political sphere, have an effect in the political sphere, and they're unmistakably on the right. I mean, there are all these new weird species on the right—the trads and the neo-pagans and the alt-right and very sort of anti-capitalist conservatives or at least anti-corporate conservatives and all kinds of things that you would never have imagined five years ago. And again, it's not that I like these things. It's that they're new, there's ferment there. So stuff is coming out that is going to drive, is already driving the culture and therefore the politics forward. And as somebody who, yes, is progressive, it is endlessly frustrating to me that we have lost this kind of initiative, momentum, energy, creativity, to what used to be the stodgy old right. Now we're the stodgy old left.Andrew Keen: What do you want to go back to? I mean you brought up Dylan earlier. Do you just want to resurrect...William Deresiewicz: No, I don't.Andrew Keen: You know another one who comes to mind is another sort of bundle of contradictions, Bruce Springsteen. He recently talked about the corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous nature of Trump. I mean Springsteen's a billionaire. He even acknowledged that he mythologized his own working-class status. He's never spent more than an hour in a factory. He's never had a job. So aren't all the pigeons coming back to roost here? The fraud of men like Springsteen are merely being exposed and young people recognize it.William Deresiewicz: Well, I don't know about Springsteen in particular...Andrew Keen: Well, he's a big deal.William Deresiewicz: No, I know he's a big deal, and I love Springsteen. I listened to him on repeat when I was young, and I actually didn't know that he'd never worked in a factory, and I quite frankly don't care because he's an artist, and he made great art out of those experiences, whether they were his or not. But to address the real issue here, he is an old guy. It sounds like he's just—I mean, I'm sure he's sincere about it and I would agree with him about Trump. But to have people like Springsteen or Robert De Niro or George Clooney...Andrew Keen: Here it is.William Deresiewicz: Okay, yes, it's all to the point that these are old guys. So you asked me, do I want to go back? The whole point is I don't want to go back. I want to go forward. I'm not going to be the one to bring us forward because I'm older. And also, I don't think I was ever that kind of creative spirit, but I want to know why there isn't sort of youthful creativity given the fact that most young people do still vote for Democrats, but there's no youthful creativity on the left. Is it just that the—I want to be surprised is the point. I'm not calling for X, Y, or Z. I'm saying astonish me, right? Like Diaghilev said to Cocteau. Astonish me the way you did in the 60s and 70s. Show me something new. And I worry that it simply isn't possible on the left now, precisely because it's so locked down in this kind of establishment, censorious mode that there's no room for a new idea to come from anywhere.Andrew Keen: As it happens, you published this essay in Salmagundi—and that predates, if not even be pre-counterculture. How many years old is it? I think it started in '64. Yeah, so alongside your piece is an interesting piece from Adam Phillips about influence and anxiety. And he quotes Montaigne from "On Experience": "There is always room for a successor, even for ourselves, and a different way to proceed." Is the problem, Bill, that we haven't, we're not willing to leave the stage? I mean, Nancy Pelosi is a good example of this. Biden's a good example. In this Salmagundi piece, there's an essay from Martin Jay, who's 81 years old. I was a grad student in Berkeley in the 80s. Even at that point, he seemed old. Why are these people not able to leave the stage?William Deresiewicz: I am not going to necessarily sign on to that argument, and not just because I'm getting older. Biden...Andrew Keen: How old are you, by the way?William Deresiewicz: I'm 61. So you mentioned Pelosi. I would have been happy for Pelosi to remain in her position for as long as she wanted, because she was effective. It's not about how old you are. Although it can be, obviously as you get older you can become less effective like Joe Biden. I think there's room for the old and the young together if the old are saying valuable things and if the young are saying valuable things. It's not like there's a shortage of young voices on the left now. They're just not interesting voices. I mean, the one that comes immediately to mind that I'm more interested in is Ritchie Torres, who's this congressman who's a genuinely working-class Black congressman from the Bronx, unlike AOC, who grew up the daughter of an architect in Northern Westchester and went to a fancy private university, Boston University. So Ritchie Torres is not a doctrinaire leftist Democrat. And he seems to speak from a real self. Like he isn't just talking about boilerplate. I just feel like there isn't a lot of room for the Ritchie Torres. I think the system that produces democratic candidates militates against people like Ritchie Torres. And that's what I am talking about.Andrew Keen: In the essay, you write about Andy Mills, who was one of the pioneers of the New York Times podcast. He got thrown out of The New York Times for various offenses. It's one of the problems with the left—they've, rather like the Stalinists in the 1930s, purged all the energy out of themselves. Anyone of any originality has been thrown out for one reason or another.William Deresiewicz: Well, because it's always the same reason, because they violate the code. I mean, yes, this is one of the main problems. And to go back to where we started with the journalists, it seems like the rationale for the cover-up, all the cover-ups was, "we can't say anything bad about our side. We can't point out any of the flaws because that's going to help the bad guys." So if anybody breaks ranks, we're going to cancel them. We're going to purge them. I mean, any idiot understands that that's a very short-term strategy. You need the possibility of self-criticism and self-difference. I mean that's the thing—you asked me about old people leaving the stage, but the quotation from Montaigne said, "there's always room for a successor, even ourselves." So this is about the possibility of continuous self-reinvention. Whatever you want to say about Dylan, some people like him, some don't, he's done that. Bowie's done that. This was sort of our idea, like you're constantly reinventing yourself, but this is what we don't have.Andrew Keen: Yeah, actually, I read the quote the wrong way, that we need to reinvent ourselves. Bowie is a very good example if one acknowledges, and Dylan of course, one's own fundamental plasticity. And that's another problem with the progressive movement—they don't think of the human condition as a plastic one.William Deresiewicz: That's interesting. I mean, in one respect, I think they think of it as too plastic, right? This is sort of the blank slate fallacy that we can make—there's no such thing as human nature and we can reshape it as we wish. But at the same time, they've created a situation, and this really is what Excellent Sheep is about, where they're turning out the same human product over and over.Andrew Keen: But in that sense, then, the excellent sheep you write about at Yale, they've all ended up now as neo-liberal, neo-conservative, so they're just rebelling...William Deresiewicz: No, they haven't. No, they are the backbone of this soggy liberal progressive establishment. A lot of them are. I mean, why is, you know, even Wall Street and Silicon Valley sort of by preference liberal? It's because they're full of these kinds of elite college graduates who have been trained to be liberal.Andrew Keen: So what are we to make of the Musk-Thiel, particularly the Musk phenomenon? I mean, certainly Thiel, very much influenced by Rand, who herself, of course, was about as deeply Nietzschean as you can get. Why isn't Thiel and Musk just a model of the virility, the vitality of the early 21st century? You might not like what they say, but they're full of vitality.William Deresiewicz: It's interesting, there's a place in my piece where I say that the liberal can't accept the idea that a bad person can do great things. And one of my examples was Elon Musk. And the other one—Andrew Keen: Zuckerberg.William Deresiewicz: But Musk is not in the piece, because I wrote the piece before the inauguration and they asked me to change it because of what Musk was doing. And even I was beginning to get a little queasy just because the association with Musk is now different. It's now DOGE. But Musk, who I've always hated, I've never liked the guy, even when liberals loved him for making electric cars. He is an example, at least the pre-DOGE Musk, of a horrible human being with incredible vitality who's done great things, whether you like it or not. And I want—I mean, this is the energy that I want to harness for our team.Andrew Keen: I actually mostly agreed with your piece, but I didn't agree with that because I think most progressives believe that actually, the Zuckerbergs and the Musks, by doing, by being so successful, by becoming multi-billionaires, are morally a bit dodgy. I mean, I don't know where you get that.William Deresiewicz: That's exactly the point. But I think what they do is when they don't like somebody, they just negate the idea that they're great. "Well, he's just not really doing anything that great." You disagree.Andrew Keen: So what about ideas, Bill? Where is there room to rebuild the left? I take your points, and I don't think many people would actually disagree with you. Where does the left, if there's such a term anymore, need to go out on a limb, break some eggs, offend some people, but nonetheless rebuild itself? It's not going back to Bernie Sanders and some sort of nostalgic New Deal.William Deresiewicz: No, no, I agree. So this is, this may be unsatisfying, but this is what I'm saying. If there were specific new ideas that I thought the left should embrace, I would have said so. What I'm seeing is the left needs, to begin with, to create the conditions from which new ideas can come. So I mean, we've been talking about a lot of it. The censoriousness needs to go.I would also say—actually, I talk about this also—you know, maybe you would consider yourself part of, I don't know. There's this whole sort of heterodox realm of people who did dare to violate the progressive pieties and say, "maybe the pandemic response isn't going so well; maybe the Black Lives Matter protests did have a lot of violence"—maybe all the things, right? And they were all driven out from 2020 and so forth. A lot of them were people who started on the left and would even still describe themselves as liberal, would never vote for a Republican. So these people are out there. They're just, they don't have a voice within the Democratic camp because the orthodoxy continues to be enforced.So that's what I'm saying. You've got to start with the structural conditions. And one of them may be that we need to get—I don't even know that these institutions can reform themselves, whether it's the Times or the New Yorker or the Ivy League. And it may be that we need to build new institutions, which is also something that's happening. I mean, it's something that's happening in the realm of publishing and journalism on Substack. But again, they're still marginalized because that liberal establishment does not—it's not that old people don't wanna give up power, it's that the established people don't want to give up the power. I mean Harris is, you know, she's like my age. So the establishment as embodied by the Times, the New Yorker, the Ivy League, foundations, the think tanks, the Democratic Party establishment—they don't want to move aside. But it's so obviously clear at this point that they are not the solution. They're not the solutions.Andrew Keen: What about the so-called resistance? I mean, a lot of people were deeply disappointed by the response of law firms, maybe even universities, the democratic party as we noted is pretty much irrelevant. Is it possible for the left to rebuild itself by a kind of self-sacrifice, by lawyers who say "I don't care what you think of me, I'm simply against you" and to work together, or university presidents who will take massive pay cuts and take on MAGA/Trump world?William Deresiewicz: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if this is going to be the solution to the left rebuilding itself, but I think it has to happen, not just because it has to happen for policy reasons, but I mean you need to start by finding your courage again. I'm not going to say your testicles because that's gendered, but you need to start—I mean the law firms, maybe that's a little, people have said, well, it's different because they're in a competitive business with each other, but why did the university—I mean I'm a Columbia alumnus. I could not believe that Columbia immediately caved.It occurs to me as we're talking that these are people, university presidents who have learned cowardice. This is how they got to be where they got and how they keep their jobs. They've learned to yield in the face of the demands of students, the demands of alumni, the demands of donors, maybe the demands of faculty. They don't know how to be courageous anymore. And as much as I have lots of reasons, including personal ones, to hate Harvard University, good for them. Somebody finally stood up, and I was really glad to see that. So yeah, I think this would be one good way to start.Andrew Keen: Courage, in other words, is the beginning.William Deresiewicz: Courage is the beginning.Andrew Keen: But not a courage that takes itself too seriously.William Deresiewicz: I mean, you know, sure. I mean I don't really care how seriously—not the self-referential courage. Real courage, which means you're really risking losing something. That's what it means.Andrew Keen: And how can you and I then manifest this courage?William Deresiewicz: You know, you made me listen to Jocelyn Benson.Andrew Keen: Oh, yeah, I forgot and I actually I have to admit I saw that on the email and then I forgot who Jocelyn Benson is, which is probably reflects the fact that she didn't say very much.William Deresiewicz: For those of you who don't know what we're talking about, she's the Secretary of State of Michigan. She's running for governor.Andrew Keen: Oh yeah, and she was absolutely diabolical. She was on the show, I thought.William Deresiewicz: She wrote a book called Purposeful Warrior, and the whole interview was just this salad of cliches. Purpose, warrior, grit, authenticity. And part of, I mentioned her partly because she talked about courage in a way that was complete nonsense.Andrew Keen: Real courage, yeah, real courage. I remember her now. Yeah, yeah.William Deresiewicz: Yeah, she got made into a martyr because she got threatened after the 2020 election.Andrew Keen: Well, lots to think about, Bill. Very good conversation, as always. I think we need to get rid of old white men like you and I, but what do I know?William Deresiewicz: I mean, I am going to keep a death grip on my position, which is no good whatsoever.Andrew Keen: As I half-joked, Bill, maybe you should have called the piece "Post-Erection." If you can't get an erection, then you certainly shouldn't be in public office. That would have meant that Joe Biden would have had to have retired immediately.William Deresiewicz: I'm looking forward to seeing the test you devise to determine whether people meet your criterion.Andrew Keen: Yeah, maybe it will be a public one. Bread and circuses, bread and elections. We shall see, Bill, I'm not even going to do your last name because I got it right once. I'm never going to say it again. Bill, congratulations on the piece "Post-Election," not "Post-Erection," and we will talk again. This story is going to run and run. We will talk again in the not too distant future. Thank you so much.William Deresiewicz: That's good.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

De studerar vid en av Europas mest prestigefyllda handelshögskolor. De talar flera språk, klär sig korrekt och vet hur man bygger ett varumärke – även om det råkar vara sig själva. I dokumentären Framtidens elit (SVT Play) får vi följa fem unga vuxna som fostras till att bli just det: framtidens elit. Men det som på pappret ser ut som ett framgångsrecept, framstår i praktiken som ett liv som aldrig riktigt börjar.I dagens avsnitt pratar Anna-Karin och Ivar om lägenheter utan tavlor, relationer som tystnar, arbetsdagar som aldrig tar slut – och vad som händer när mening reduceras till mätbarhet. När man lever som om man alltid är på väg, men aldrig riktigt kommer fram.Till sin hjälp har de bland annat boken Excellent Sheep av William Deresiewicz (2015), där elitutbildning liknas vid en sorteringsmaskin för perfekta men vilsna individer – skickliga på att prestera, men dåligt rustade att välja liv.Det blir ett samtal om konsultbranschen som emotionellt vakuum, utbildning som dressyr, och varför så många unga högpresterare verkar ha allt – men ändå undrar vad det är värt.Prenumerera eller stötta Rak högerI takt med att fler blir betalande prenumeranter har Rak höger kunnat expandera med fler skribenter och mer innehåll. Vi får inget presstöd, vi tar inte emot pengar från någon intresseorganisation eller lobbygrupp. Det är endast tack vare er prenumeranter vi kan fortsätta vara självständiga röster i en konform samtid. Så stort tack för att ni är med, utan er hade det inget av detta varit möjligt.Den som vill stötta oss på andra sätt än genom en prenumeration får gärna göra det med Swish, Plusgiro, Bankgiro, Paypal eller Donorbox.Swishnummer: 123-027 60 89Plusgiro: 198 08 62-5Bankgiro: 5808-1837Utgivaren ansvarar inte för kommentarsfältet. (Myndigheten för press, radio och tv (MPRT) vill att jag skriver ovanstående för att visa att det inte är jag, utan den som kommenterar, som ansvarar för innehållet i det som skrivs i kommentarsfältet.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.enrakhoger.se/subscribe

Few observers are more insightful than the critic William Deresiewicz at identifying the changing landscape of American culture. In my latest conversation with Deresiewicz, best known for his book Excellent Sheep, we explore how young American men are increasingly drawn to right-wing politics while feeling socially devalued and alienated by progressive rhetoric. Deresiewicz critiques universities for embracing a censorious left-wing ideology that has become intellectually stagnant. He contrasts this with the creative ferment happening on the right, while at the same time rejecting Trump's authoritarian tactics against universities. Deresiewicz argues that art has lost its cultural significance as consumption has become disposable, and notes that a new counter-elite is attempting to destroy the established liberal elite rather than join its exclusive club.Here are the 5 KEEN ON AMERICA takeaways in our conversation with Deresiewicz: * Young men, particularly those without elite educations, are increasingly drawn to right-wing politics partly due to economic changes, dating app dynamics, and what Deresiewicz perceives as dismissive rhetoric from the progressive left.* Universities have embraced a "far left progressive ideology" that has been repeatedly rejected by voters even in traditionally liberal areas, yet Deresiewicz condemns Trump's authoritarian tactics against these institutions.* The political left has become intellectually stagnant, with creative energy now more visible on the right, while progressive spaces have become censorious and intolerant of debate.* Art has lost its cultural significance as streaming platforms and internet culture have turned creative works into disposable "content," diminishing both audience engagement and artistic seriousness.* A new counter-elite (represented by figures like Trump and Musk) isn't seeking admission to established power structures but rather aims to destroy them entirely, representing a significant shift in elite dynamics.William Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic, a frequent speaker at colleges, high schools, and other venues, and the author of five books including the New York Times bestseller Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. His most recent book is The End of Solitude: Selected Essays on Culture and Society. His current project is a historically informed memoir about being Jewish. Bill has published over 300 essays and reviews. He has won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle's Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, and a Sydney Award; he is also a three-time National Magazine Award nominee. His work, which has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper's, The London Review of Books, and many other publications, has been translated into 19 languages and included in over 40 college readers and other anthologies. Bill taught English at Yale and Columbia before becoming a full-time writer. He has appeared on The Colbert Report, Here & Now, The New Yorker Radio Hour, and many other outlets and has held visiting positions at Bard, Scripps, and Claremont McKenna Colleges as well as at American Jewish University and the University of San Diego. His previous books are The Death of the Artist: How Creators are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech, A Jane Austen Education, and Jane Austen and the Romantic Poets. Bill is a member of the board (directorial, editorial, or advisory) of The Matthew Strother Center for the Examined Life, a retreat and study program in Catskill, NY; The Metropolitan Review, a new literary journal; Tivnu: Building Justice, which runs a Jewish service-learning gap year and other programs in Portland, OR; the Prohuman Foundation, which promotes the ideals of individual identity and shared humanity; Circle, a group coaching and purpose-finding program for college and graduate students; and Clio's, a selectively curated, chronologically organized bookstore in Oakland.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Send us a Text Message.Bill Deresiewicz, a former Yale professor, and Aaron Pete discuss how liberal arts degrees impact personal development, the challenges in higher education, and the importance of diverse perspectives and mentors in building a democratic society.Support the Show.www.biggerthanmepodcast.com

William Deresiewicz — author of (the newly updated) Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and The End of Solitude — returns to the pod! This time we dive into one of the institutions we love to hate: elite universities. We dwell on and debate the protests at Columbia (et al.), the reasons why it's all gone so wrong, and whether or not the solution is just to raze them to the ground. Check out our ‘Uncertainty' newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:-The context for Excellent Sheep, c. 2014 [2:39-12:21]-The student as customer / PC police officer [12:22-27:32]- The emptiness inside [27:33-40:02]-To fix or ruin the elite reputation? [40:03-49:54]-Getting into the protests & elite failure [49:55-58:58]- What exactly went wrong [58:59-1:08:08]-The answer isn't yoga [1:08:09-1:29:36]Mentioned in this conversation: -Our last conversation with Bill -Vanessa's newsletter on solitude/friendshipUncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

“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

As an English professor at Yale University, essayist and literary critic William Deresiewicz observed a trend across American higher education that troubled him deeply. Instead of learning to think independently, critically, creatively, and courageously, students were increasingly subscribing to a mode of careerism, credentialism, and conformism that focused on climbing the academic or professional ladder. So what is the value of higher education? As Deresiewicz writes in his 2014 book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, colleges, first and foremost, are supposed to teach you to think, to help you develop a habit of skepticism and the capacity to put it into practice. More than that, college is where you build a soul — your moral, intellectual, sensual, emotional self, through exposure to books, ideas, works of art, and pressures of the minds around you that are looking for their own answers to the big questions. Questions of love, family, God, mortality, time, truth, dignity, and the human experience. Over the course of our conversation, we discuss the search for a meaningful life, the worth of a liberal education, the role of mentorship, the relationship between solitude and leadership, what it means to cultivate moral imagination, and more.In this episode, we discuss: 3:00 - Deresiewicz' approach to teaching during his years as a college professor6:25 - The reason why parents are not ideally positioned to guide their children through questions of what they want to do with their lives 8:02 - What Deresiewicz believes is the purpose of higher education 10:50 - What it means to “shape the soul” of students 17:12 - What we miss when we take a scientistic view of the world 20:45 - The challenge of establishing normative values in society, and why a “moral education” should be prioritized instead28:25 - The search for individualism among students today30:55 - What true leadership looks like and why people in powerful positions in our society do not often exhibit these traits40:28 - What does it mean to have a sense of purpose?43:00 - How young people can work to develop their sense of a calling or purposeWilliam Deresiewicz is the author of four books, including A Jane Austen Education (2011), Excellent Sheep (2014), The Death of the Artist (2020), and The End of Solitude (2022), as well as multiple essays, including Solitude and Leadership (2010) and The Disadvantages of an Elite Education (2008). William Deresiewicz can be found on Twitter/X at @Wderesiewicz.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@

Chapter 1 Understand the idea behind Excellent Sheep"Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life" is a book by William Deresiewicz. In this book, Deresiewicz explores the flaws of the modern education system and the pressure placed on students to pursue narrow definitions of success and achievement.Deresiewicz, a former Yale professor, argues that the education system focuses too much on grades, test scores, and prestige, rather than fostering creativity, intellectual curiosity, and a sense of purpose. He criticizes what he calls the "meritocracy" where students are pushed to achieve for the sake of achievement, often leading to a lack of authenticity and fulfillment in their adult lives.The term "Excellent Sheep" comes from a quote by former Yale professor William Sloan Coffin, who said, "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Deresiewicz sees this as reflective of the conformity and lack of critical thinking fostered by the education system.Through personal anecdotes, interviews with students, and a deep analysis of societal pressures, Deresiewicz offers insights and suggestions for creating a more meaningful education system that values personal growth, self-discovery, and the pursuit of true passions. He encourages students to think critically about their goals and aspirations, and to find their own paths rather than conforming to societal expectations."Excellent Sheep" has sparked much discussion and debate about the current state of higher education and the effects of the pressure to achieve. It offers a critique of the status quo and a call to action for reforming the education system to better serve the needs of students.Chapter 2 Is Excellent Sheep Worth the Hype?The book has received generally positive reviews and has been praised for its critique of the higher education system and its examination of the pressure and conformity faced by college students. It has been described as thought-provoking, insightful, and well-researched. If you are interested in exploring topics related to education, personal development, and the challenges faced by students, you might find "Excellent Sheep" to be a valuable read.Chapter 3 Overview of Excellent Sheep"Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life" is a book written by William Deresiewicz that examines the flaws of the education system in America, particularly within elite institutions.The book argues that many elite colleges and universities prioritize the development of narrow skills and the pursuit of prestige over the pursuit of a truly meaningful and fulfilling education. Deresiewicz suggests that these institutions and their students are often consumed with competition, conformity, and achievement, leading to a culture of "excellent sheep" who are focused on getting the best grades, securing high-paying jobs, and maintaining a certain social status, rather than cultivating genuine intellectual curiosity and personal growth.Deresiewicz draws on his own experiences as a professor at Yale University, as well as interviews with students and faculty from various elite institutions, to shed light on the detrimental effects of this education system. He critiques the overspecialization and hyper-competitive nature of these institutions, arguing that they produce graduates who lack the ability to think critically, engage in meaningful social and political discourse, and find true fulfillment in their lives.Additionally, Deresiewicz highlights the impact of societal pressures and...

Recorded June 6, 2023. William Deresiewicz is a non-fiction writer whose work includes The End of Solitude, Excellent Sheep, and A Jane Austin Education. In this episode he speaks with us about his book The Death of the Artist: How Creators are Struggling to Survive in the age of Billionaires and Big Tech. Over the course of our conversation Bill gives us a synopsis of the book and highlights different factors that have resulted in the current marketplace for creatives. He includes the new formation of “parasocial relationships” with fans and customers that are a part of selling creative work and acknowledges the death of institutional gatekeepers, which is a double edged sword. This interview is one you will not want to miss. To find more of Bills's work visit: https://billderesiewicz.com/Help keep the podcast alive! Visit our Patreon, pick up some Merch, or make a one time donation! Listeners make it all possible. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Support the show

Today I speak with Ken Hart, CEO and Founder at Snowdrop Solutions, a data enrichment FinTech. We talk about the importance of clarity and transparency of transactions in financial services, focusing on solving every day problems, the need for a user-centric approach using personalized spending insights and recommendations, the benefits of autonomy in building a company to have a meaningful impact on users' lives and the importance of creating a culture that builds challengers, not excellent sheep"There's moments in people's lives where there's a lack of clarity, a lack of transparency, and if you could just make sense of it quickly and intuitively... people just get it."Let's dive into it!

This week, The Unspeakable welcomes back William Deresiewicz, who enters the pantheon of three-time guest! Bill was first on the pod in the fall of 2020 talking about his book The Death of the Artist and he came back last year to talk about his book of collected works The End of Solitude. He returns now to discuss some articles he published recently about the state of human creativity and the future of creative output. In an article for Tablet called We're All Bored Of Culture, Bill explores how and why the arts have seemingly become so lackluster in the last several decades and why audiences appear to be so bored. In an article for Persuasion, Bill writes about artificial intelligence and why he thinks that, despite all the fuss, AI, will never be a substitute for human creativity.    As with all of his visits to The Unspeakable, Bill and Meghan talk about why it might be more difficult than ever to be an artist–-not just in terms of making a living but in terms of “making meaning” (whatever that means). Are artists afraid to take risks for fear of public rebuke and the financial penalties that can result? Or does the machinery of the marketplace disincentivize originality in any form? They also talk about Bill's early career as a dance critic and Meghan's recent experience revisiting some films that were important to her when she was younger.    For paying subscribers, Bill stays over time to reflect on the aging process and some of his feelings about friendship, masculinity, regret, and (of course) the new gender movement.    Guest Bio: William Deresiewicz is the author of Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and The End of Solitude: Selected Essays on Culture and Society. Find him at www.billderesiewicz.com.

Host Blaise Brosnan sits down with William Deresiewicz, the author of Excellent Sheep and The Death of the Artist. They discuss the degree of intellectual engagement of the American elite, the postmodern turn in post-war American literature, and the increased proliferation of different forms of art over time.

William Deresiewicz — author of Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and The End of Solitude — has lived many lives. He's been an orthodox Jewish boy who lost his faith; a journalism school student unimpressed by the pretensions of the profession; a literature professor who (blasphemously) loved books and teaching. Today, he's an author, essayist, and nostalgic ex-New Yorker. No matter where he's been in life, Deresiewicz has often been on the outside looking in, which is maybe why he's able to see and analyze our culture so clearly. We start off this conversation diving into The Death of the Artist, and how the concept/role of the artist has evolved and changed throughout history; we then meander into a discussion on community, solitude, and cities; and conclude by diving into his two definitions of the word “culture,” while unpacking the techno-solutionism of America.Check out our ‘Uncertainty' newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:-Phantasms, Batman, and Bill [0:00-6:00]-The first paradigm - artist as artisan [6:01-17:04]-The second paradigm - artist as bohemian  [17:05-27:55]-The third paradigm - artist as professional  [27:56-33:40]-To the fourth paradigm [33:41-39:41]-Artist as producer vs. truth teller [39:42-57:53]-Art and community [57:54-1:01:59]-Solitude and cities [1:02:00-1:19:25]-Culture vs culture [1:19:26-1:40:06]Mentioned in this conversation: -Washington Post's Leonard Downie Jr. on moving beyond “objectivity”-The Herd of Independent MindsThe Two Cultures and the Scientific RevolutionUncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

William Deresiewicz is an American author, essayist, and critic. He taught English at Yale University from 1998 to 2008. He is the author, among other books, of Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and William Deresiewicz discuss how the intensely meritocratic nature of elite universities prioritizes striving over deep learning; the instrumentalization of traditional pursuits to the detriment of mastery; and how broader cultural transformations frustrate deep immersion in art, friendship, and learning. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by John Taylor Williams, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What kind of person is our education system designed to create? Best-selling author and award-winning essayist William Deresiewicz discusses the failures of our higher education system, how it mis-conditions our elite, and fails to value the humanities, as well as his latest collection of essays, "The End of Solitude." Sign up for our event with Bill via Zoom in 1 week! https://jmp.princeton.edu/events/college-kids-are-not-ok-and-what-do-about-it-conversation-william-deresiewicz-end-solitude  More on Bill Deresiewicz: https://billderesiewicz.com/  His book, "The End of Solitude": https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250858641/the-end-of-solitude  His book, "Excellent Sheep": https://billderesiewicz.com/books/excellent-sheep/  His recent piece on secularism: https://salmagundi.skidmore.edu/articles/360-disenchantment-and-dogma  Jean Anyon's article on how our education system enforces social class: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1179509  Nicholas Kristof's educational advice in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/opinion/sunday/student-success-advice.html

Bill Deresiewicz is one of the sharpest cultural critics of our time. I may not agree with everything he says, but I have to hand it to the guy. He's a powerhouse of incisive, piercing insight into all things culture. His books include A Jane Austen Education and The Death of the Artist as well as my personal favorite Excellent Sheep. And now he's got a new one on the way. In July, we sat down and talked about The End of Solitude, an exceptionally well curated set of essays that I'd recommend to anybody. For those interested, the book drops on August 23rd and can be snagged here. Be sure to check out the Quillette website soon for an exclusive excerpt from The End of Solitude. And while you're there, throw in a subscription and join the club. You can thank me later.

Bill Deresiewicz is a former Yale professor who wrote a book about the failures of the elite education institutions in the West called Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American elite and the way to a meaningful life.In this podcast, Þórarinn speaks with Bill about how he perceives the problem today, who are these excellent sheep, the grade-inflation, wokeism and its implications on free speech and censorship, classism, and more.

Why is it important to gain insight into what college is for you as an individual? What happens if you don't have that awareness? Moreover, what questions should you ask yourself to get that clear idea?  Jenn dives into these questions to start the episode off. Later in the episode, Jenn talks to William Deresiewicz, a former English professor at Yale University, an essayist, a literary critic, and an author of best-selling books, A Jane Austen Education and Excellent Sheep. Take a listen to this week's episode and find out who is an excellent sheep, the unintended impact the US admissions process has on students throughout life, and how to avoid these pitfalls. Furthermore, you will discover whether a school's reputation impacts future earnings, why faculty at most US universities are discouraged from spending time teaching, the problems of educational and residential-class segregation, and much more!  “As a result of the excellence that students have been forced to demonstrate, always doing what grown-ups want them to do, never having time to think about what they want, what they are good at, what they care about, they become sheep.” William Deresiewicz

This week's episode is the first of several episodes about how colleges and universities have abandoned their core mission - the collaborative search for truth - in favor of, well, something else. My guest for this episode is https://billderesiewicz.com/ (William Deresiewicz), author of https://billderesiewicz.com/books/excellent-sheep/ (Excellent Sheep), The Death of the Artist, and the landmark essay ""https://newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-send-your-kids-elsewhere (Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League)." Bill and I discuss the meritocracy and the damage it is doing to our students, our colleges, and our political institutions. We also discuss the way that the meritocratic language around "diversity" obscures the actual problems and solutions for social and political justice in higher education. Next week's episode is about anarchism and Christmas. I highly recommend that you read "An https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/anarchist-guide-to-christmas/ (Anarchist Guide to Christmas)" by Ruth Kinna, covering the similarities between Kropotkin and Santa Claus, in advance of my conversation with Ruth about Santa and anarchism. As always, you can find me at https://www.everydayanarchism.com/ (https://www.everydayanarchism.com/)

Thom Golden, Founder & CEO of Golden Educational Consulting, shares the story of his journey from college admission work to higher-ed adjacent work to launching his own college consulting firm centered around "whole student scheduling."   The episode focuses on "purposeful unrest," the path not taken, and watershed moments, and includes great insights no matter where around the desk your seat is located.Whole Student Scheduling100 Cups AcademyNapier Executive SearchAtomic Habits by James ClearWatershed by Indigo GirlsRapid DescentWalkout song:  The Man by Aloe BlaccBest recent read: The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks (hat tip to Brad Weiner for the recommendation)Eager to read next: Excellent Sheep; The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William DeresewiczFavorite thing to make in the kitchen: Smoked pork shoulder (and yes, he shared his recipe).What he uses to take and keep notes: Rocket Book, Moleskine, Evernote. Memorable bit of advice: "Say 'Make it a great day' instead of 'Have a great day,' [because it speaks to agency and action].Bucket list: There's a piece of paper in their kitchen where each of his sons has picked trips for him to take with each of his sons: to waterparks, to England to watch Tottenham Hotspurs, and the United States Grand Prix in Austin.Theme music arranged by Ryan Anselment.

We're back! This week we're wrapping up our series on William Deresiewicz's speech "Excellent Sheep". So far we've learned how to become effective leaders through two of three practices: reading and developing friendships. This week we cover the third practice, introspection. Listen in as we dive deep into what it means to think about what we think! Hosts: Dr. Lily Abadal & Shelby Cala Producer: Shelby Cala

We're talking about reading! This week we dive into another theme from William Deresiewicz's speech "Excellent Sheep" and learn how sustained reading can help us become more virtuous people.  Hosted by: Dr. Lily Abadal & Shelby Cala Produced by: Shelby Cala

This week Lily & Shelby reflect on the "Excellent Sheep" speech given by author & Ivy League professor,William Deresiewicz. This will be one of several episodes centered around the talk and this week the focus is on becoming an effective leader! Hosts: Dr. Lily Abadal & Mrs. Shelby Cala Producer: Shelby Cala

William Deresiewicz returns to In Conversation to speak about "Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life". We talk about the narrative that college is something that young people just "need to do", the importance of a humanities education and the courage that it will take to challenge our current meritocratic approach to college and university admissions. We're speaking across national borders on some of these issues, but there is plenty that should resonate with Canadian listeners. As with our conversation about "THE DEATH OF THE ARTISTHow Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech", Bill has given us plenty with which to build a bigger conversation. Find out more about Bill's work at https://billderesiewicz.com/

A former Yale professor on the clever but morally clueless students pursuing an elite education.  ------ In 2014, William Deresiewicz's book Excellent Sheep: The miseducation of the American elite and the way to a meaningful life became an instant best-seller. The former Yale professor called out the way that elite American universities produced “excellent sheep”: clever, highly credentialled, and conscientious young people who were nonetheless stumped about the meaning of life. Instead, they funnelled themselves into high-paying jobs in law, finance, medicine, consulting, or tech.    In this fascinating discussion, Deresiewicz talks about the way that words like “soul” have a gravity that non-religious language can't replicate, why a good education is necessarily going to ask existential questions about “love and time and God and everything”, and how he annoyed Canadian psychologist and popular science writer Steven Pinker with talk about university as a time to “build your self”. As the Australian federal government changes the pricing structure of university degrees to encourage students to pursue courses in areas of expected job growth, it's clear that we're also asking: what exactly is the value of an education? ------ Explore: Excellent Sheep: The miseducation of the American elite and the way to a meaningful life (Bill's most recent book) The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech

Michael Hardiman describes the Denver Lab School as in its embryonic stage. Recorded 18 months prior to the opening of school - the journey seems monumental, but Michael is on a path to create a unique learning experience that will greatly impact those he seeks to serve! mhardiman@denverlabschool.org2:30 Holderness School2:45 Phil Peck4:15 AmeriCorps5:00 Windermere Prep6:00 Klingenstein Center9:45 Vinny Dotoli10:00 Brooklyn Independent Middle School10:00 Orly Friedman22:00 Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold22:15 Traction by Gino Wickman23:45 Mastery Transcript Consortium®27:15 No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings42:30 North American Outdoor Leadership Schools47:00 Creative Schools by Ken Robinson  - Do schools kill creativity? - TED Talk47:30 Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz 47:30 Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown48:00 John Dewey Academy - Experience And Education by John DeweyHere are some additional resources supporting our mission.Episodes, Feeback, Show Notes & more - www.elevateschool.usFacebook Group   LinkedIn GroupConnect with Matt on LinkedInConnect with Kevin on LinkedInComments or Questions? - kevin@theSMARTsub.com

This book, Excellent Sheep, sharply points out the downsides of elite education. By elite education, the author means not only prestigious institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton but also everything related to them. He criticizes elite students for their inability to accept failure, their lack of creative thinking, their disconnection from society, and other failings. Moreover, the book states that prestigious institutions are “soulless,” even though each one of them seems to have a character. By examining the various issues and problems in American elite education, readers have an opportunity to rethink what a good education should look like and how the prestigious schools should respond.

Episode #14 of the Real College Matters podcast Is heavy on the "real" and a little lighter on the "podcast," an uncut, unfiltered conversation between Leigh and Bill Deresiewicz, the writer who has most influenced her college advising practice.In a departure from Bill's usual speaking venues--his most recent being with New York University--Bill gives generously of his time to talk with Leigh not only about his latest publication but also about the provocative essays and books which call into question our culture's troubling assumptions about higher education. (Link to new book) The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive In the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech(Bill's website)Selected writings:Solitude and Leadership (text of speech given to West Point cadets In 2010)The Disadvantages of an Elite EducationOn Political Correctness Other books: A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really MatterExcellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

Rachel chats with our guest about the success narrative she inherited as the daughter of Chinese immigrants. We unpack what it was like to have it all on the outside but feel miserable on the inside. She tells the story of her tumultuous transition from college into young adulthood, what it took for her to quit her prestigious tech job, and how her relationship with her mom has evolved throughout. Resources mentioned: - Brené Brown interview on Skavlan: How to cope with grief, fear and anxiety during Corona [link] - Marina Keegan essay: Even Artichokes Have Doubts [link] - William Deresiewicz book: Excellent Sheep [link] - Ruth Chang TED Talk: How to make hard choices [link] --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/misfortune-cookies/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/misfortune-cookies/support

...........................................................................................William Deresiewiczhttps://billderesiewicz.com/Death of The Artist - BUY THE BOOK:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250125510/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=williamderesiewicz-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1250125510&linkId=3b99246920a343c09ba0bc86c1302d51...........................................................................................SPONSORS...........................................................................................PATREONIf you’re a podcaster, Youtuber, musician, writer, illustrator... if you’re a creative person of any kind, or simply love one, now is the time to check out patreon.com. Now is the time to join the millions of fans and creators who are changing the way art is valued together. STORYBLOCKSThis episode is brought to you by Storyblocks Video. Story Blocks give you studio-quality 4k stock video without blowing your budget. If you need b-roll, after effects templates, or video motion background you gotta check out Storyblocks Video. Head to storyblocks.com/CreativePepTalk to learn more about Storyblocks Video today. SKILLSHARE X CREATIVE PEP TALKOur first ever online video course is out now on SKILLSHARE!Are you looking for your next big break? Whether you’ve NEVER had a big break in your creative career OR you’re a veteran creative who needs a new big break to reinvent yourself: this class is for you!!! Go to skillshare.com/creativepeptalk  to get started!!! JakprintsGet our new 2021 Calendar printed by Jakprints.com AVAILABLE NOW!

Bestselling author William Deresiewicz's new book, The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech, paints a grim picture of the state of the arts-at least as far as actual artists are concerned. For all the talk about how it's never been easier to be creative, the truth is that it's never been more difficult to do so professionally. In this conversation, Deresiewicz relays what he learned from interviews with more than one hundred working artists, how the digital economy has obliterated the creative economy, and what he portends for the future of his own career. Guest Bio:  William Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic, a frequent speaker at colleges and other venues, and a former professor of English at Yale. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, the Nation, the New Republic, and many other publications. He is the recipient of a National Book Critics Circle award for excellence in reviewing and is the New York Times bestselling author of Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and A Jane Austen Education.  

Michael talks with William Deresiewicz, author about Excellent Sheep, on parent and counselor expectations and Fear around the broken educational systemAs a Yale professor, Bill Deresiewicz saw something deeply troubling. His students were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively, and how to find a sense of purpose.Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and continues into college. As schools shift focus from the liberal arts to narrowly “practical” subjects like economics and computer science, students are losing the ability to think for themselves.Deresiewicz explains how college should be a time for self-discovery, when young people can establish their own values and measures of success in order to forge their own path. He addresses parents, students, educators, and anyone who’s interested in the direction of American society, featuring quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and clearly presenting solutions.William Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic, a frequent speaker at colleges, high schools, and other venues, and the best-selling author of Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. His new book is The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech.Bill has published more than 250 essays and reviews. He has won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities, the Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, and a Sydney Award; he is also a three-time National Magazine Award nominee. His work, which has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The American Scholar, and many other publications, has been translated into 17 languages and anthologized in more than 30 college and scholastic readers.Bill taught English at Yale and Columbia before becoming a full-time writer in 2008. He has spoken at over 100 educational and other venues and held visiting positions at Bard, Scripps, and Claremont McKenna Colleges as well as at the University of San Diego. His previous book is A Jane Austen Education.About the Crushing Your Fear PodcastBioMichael is an Entrepreneur who has started multiple revenue generating companies both in the US and Europe. He currently hosts two Podcasts (Crushing Your Fear and Craft Beer Storm) and has learned to conquer Fear through leaving the past behind, learning from it and adopting Gratitude and a Positive outlook for the future. On his Crushing Your Fear Podcast, Michael explains "We live in a Society of Fear. Everywhere we turn, fear is there. Most people we know are affected by fear in one form or another. We ourselves are consumed by fear - we cant move forward - we wont take chances - we "fear' what others may "think" of us - and on and on and on. Enough! There is another way. We explore different areas in society, flush out the manipulation and empower you to overcome fear. Our guests are experts and give you the insight and tools needed to identify and conquer fear. So join us and Crush Your Fear..."Michael BearaHostCrushing Your Fear Podcastmichael@crushingyourfear.comWebsite: http://www.crushingyourfear.com/Instagram: @crushingyourfearFacebook: @crushingyourfearTwitter: @crushingfearTik Tok: @crushingyourfearSubscribe to our Podcast!iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crushing-your-fear/id1465751659Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/craft-beer-storm/crushing-your-fear

There are two stories you hear about making a living as an artist in the digital age, and they are diametrically opposed. One comes from Silicon Valley and its boosters in the media. There's never been a better time to be an artist, it goes. If you've got a laptop, you've got a recording studio. If you've got an iPhone, you've got a movie camera. GarageBand, Final Cut Pro: all the tools are at your fingertips. And if production is cheap, distribution is free. It's called the Internet: YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, Kindle Direct Publishing. Everyone's an artist; just tap your creativity and put your stuff out there. Soon, you too can make a living doing what you love, just like all those viral stars you read about. The other story comes from artists themselves, especially musicians but also writers, filmmakers, people who do comedy. Sure, it goes, you can put your stuff out there, but who is going to pay you for it? Digital content has been demonetized: music is free, writing is free, video is free, even images you put up on Facebook or Instagram are free, because people can (and do) just take them. Everyone is not an artist. Making art takes years of dedication, and that requires a means of support. If things don't change, a lot of art will cease to be sustainable. We welcome friend of the Innovation Show and author of “The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech” Bill Deresiewicz, welcome back to the show. Previous episode: Excellent Sheep: https://bit.ly/2ZlQ6OI Bill is here: https://billderesiewicz.com/

Bill Deresiewicz, bestselling author and our first ever guest on the show, re-joins us for our 100th episode to talk about his latest book The Death of the Artist. We discuss if art is even a worthy pursuit for young people today and if so, what can young people expect.

Episode 34 with Henry and Dylan.Read today's BOOK CLUB BOOK:Excellent Sheep by William DeresiewiczDishin' out Smart Nonsense about:Excellent Sheep: The herd mentalityDiscover the arc of COLLEGE historyConflating research with teachingLinksExcellent Sheep by William DeresiewiczPod Club: Gary Vee on Aubrey Marcus Podcast Pt. 1 | Smart Nonsense Pod #9Pod Club: Gary Vee on Aubrey Marcus Podcast Pt. 2 | Smart Nonsense Pod #10The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan HaidtHow to Get Rich | NavalThe Gettysburg Address | NPRPre-enrollment Material, 1935-1936 | John F. Kennedy - Presidential Library And MuseumSteve JobsBob DylanWilliam DeresiewiczNaval RavikantWoodstockCall of DutySputnik 1[Heads up: We get a $ kickback from some of these recs, so if you buy something, thanks for supporting the pod.]Here's the full Show Notes.Watch Henry's last YouTube video.Read Dylan's last blog post.

Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz provided by the nateliason.com site. I believe that this is quite important… —————————————————————

Dr. William Deresiewicz is an author, essayist, and literary critic. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. from Columbia University and taught English at Yale University before becoming a full-time writer. In 2014, Dr. Deresiewicz wrote the best-selling book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. Excellent Sheep on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Excellent-Sheep-Miseducation-American-Meaningful/dp/1476702721   ———   Website: https://www.ericcervone.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC13h27HBHpqpHWtzxJF4jQA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericcervone Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericcervone  

What does it mean to “self-educate?” Are autodidacts made or born? Can one develop an intellect without formal higher education? In this special episode, Blake discusses these big questions (and many more) with Bill Deresiewicz (the author of Excellent Sheep) and guest facilitator Dev Carey. This event was recorded live in Portland, Oregon, on September 1, 2019, at the Wayfinding Academy. Learn more about Bill at billderesiewicz.com, Dev at highdesertcenter.org, and Wayfinding Academy at wayfindingacademy.org. (Note: My claim about the percentage of K-12 students in private schools in the US was wrong: it’s roughly 10%.)

Why are we still using an outdated system? There's been a lot of advancements made in education over the past 100 years, but grading students from A to F on a 100-point scale is not one of them. The grading system most schools use today was first used at Mount Holyoke College in 1897. Middle school principal Eric Saibel recently wrote an article in Education Week challenging educators to reevaluate what he describes as "a profoundly arbitrary and subjective ranking system." "If what we want in schools is to create a culture centered on learning and growth then a feedback model based on points and percentages isn't the most effective route," says Saibel.  "It does provide feedback, but the problem with letter grades is that it combines every aspect of what a student does both academically and behaviorally, mixes it all in a cauldron and then spits out a percentage. So what we get is information that is not very nuanced. Saibel says that the current grading scale has led to grade inflation. "In 1940 15% of grades at private colleges and universities fell within the A range. In 2008, that number was almost 45%." that's from the book "Excellent Sheep" says Saibel. Saibel argues that the problem with A-F grading is that there's a wide range of practices between schools and even classrooms. He also points to a misconception that students will be motivated when they score poorly on an assignment or test, but argues it actually may prompt students to withdrawl from learning. What does grading reform look like? Saibel suggests a few possible to changes to grading. Implement a type of "habits of learning" rubric.Three modelsNew Tech Network Learning OutcomesISTE Student StandardsHabits of Learning created by his own schoolSeparate academic grades from homework.Separate academic grades from behavior.Give standards-based grades, then convert them to letter grades. Saibel says sometimes he feels a little bit isolated when he's making the case for grading reform, but he knows several colleagues that agree a major shift is needed. Susan Brookhart from the School of Education at Duquesne University penned a similar article in the ASCD Summer Edition. Saibel says the awareness from the research goes back to the 1980s and 90s, but the implementation of some type of new system could take much longer. To learn more about Saibel's ideas on grading reform, listen to Episode 112 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on your favorite podcast app or on iTunes. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017-2019

Author and essayist William Deresiewicz discusses his book “Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life” and the current college admissions scandal. William got his Bachelor's, Master's and PhD from Columbia University and has taught at Yale University. Following his article, 'The Disadvantages of an Elite Education' in 2008 which went viral, William wrote “Excellent Sheep” which examines how elite colleges are failing young kids. In this fascinating conversation, William shares his views on the epidemic of mental distress amongst college students who can't navigate their way outside of school. He discusses how parents have failed their children by getting caught up in status anxiety, where they produce a child that looks good on a college application, but lacks the resiliency, energy and optimism to truly know themselves and be happy. Find out more about Bill and his book @: www.billderesiewicz.com And check out his article here

As parents, we just want to give our kids the best. We want to give them opportunities and send them to the best colleges. Sometimes that means signing them up for all the classes and starting the resumé in the earliest years. In today's episode I am chatting with author Bill Deresiewicz. We are discussing the … SFP 126: How to Give Your Child the Very Best [with Bill Deresiewicz, author of Excellent Sheep] Read More » The post SFP 126: How to Give Your Child the Very Best [with Bill Deresiewicz, author of Excellent Sheep] appeared first on Simple Families.

William Deresiewicz, award winning essayist, critic, and the writer of Excellent Sheep, joins Jim and Jan and shares his perspective on the need for solitude in the interconnected age, social and emotional learning, and which interpersonal skills are crucial to moving forward in the future.     Key Takeaways [4:33] In order to be a real leader, you have to be able to think and create space around the ideas. [8:18] What William calls the “waitress principle” emphasizes the tendency for managers to lead without listening, and push the ideas away from those who really are in the front lines of what is happening. [10:54] There seems to be a push to imply that everyone has to be some type of leader, and if you aren’t interested in leadership you must be a follower. Good thinkers and intellectuals don’t have to automatically be pushed with the label as a thought leader. [13:33] The educational system now generally produces the type of person who is afraid of taking risks, doesn’t know how to make decisions on their own and relies on doing what someone else tells them to.  While ambitious and talented, students need to learn more how to take control of their own thoughts and lives. [20:22] William discusses how the meritocracy from the 1960’s has now led to the present day  created creditantled arts race that puts the interest of the country ahead of individualism. [29:57] We have come to believe that education is all about the job market. While that is clearly important, social and emotional learning is also crucial to developing sound future leaders. [37:50] It’s not fair to say kids these days don’t work hard or have an interest in leadership. They they have been thrown into an economy with no stability and security, and under the lead of employers that may not show commitment or leadership principles they can follow.     LinkedIn: @William Deresiewicz Facebook: @WilliamDeresiewicz Website: billderesiewicz.com Twitter: @WDeresiewicz   Quotable Quotes Solitude is the essence of leadership. “My only experience in leadership has been resisting other people’s efforts to exert it on me.” In order to really think, you have to be able to be alone. We don’t all have to be leaders. Successful adults do not lead linear lives. I’ve learned to agree with being disagreed with. Ask yourself why the term and concept of leadership is important to you in the first place.   Bio William Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic, a frequent college speaker, and the best-selling author of Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life.   Books Mentioned in this Episode Excellent Sheep How to Raise an Adult Kids These Days On Political Correctness

Many Asian Americans see college education, particularly elite college education, as their main pathway to success. But is that true? Furthermore, does the process turn Asian American kids against each other to strive for inclusion in a selective white liberal milieu? Jess, Oxford, and Oriana draw upon their experiences at these types of schools to talk about whether we should idealize these institutions at all. Intro/Outro Song: "Graduation Song (Instrumental)" by Vitamin C Intro/Outro Voice Track: 2012 Wellesley High School Commencement Speech by David McCullough Jr. TWITTER: Jess (@cogitatotomato) Oxford (@oxford_kondo) REFERENCED RESOURCES: Asian Americans Think An Elite College Degree...: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-lee-ramakrishnan-asian-american-prestige-20180327-story.html Prescriptive Stereotypes and Workplace Consequences... ("Berdahl Study"): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22506817 "Excellent Sheep" by William Deresiewicz: https://www.amazon.com/Excellent-Sheep-Miseducation-American-Meaningful/dp/1476702721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523842119&sr=8-1&keywords=excellent+sheep "The Price of Admission" by Daniel Golden: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Admission-Americas-Colleges-Outside/dp/1400097975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523842784&sr=8-1&keywords=price+of+admission

Unschooling is more about self-directed learning, finding out what you’re interested in, and going really deep into something. In this episode of Nat Chat, I’m joined by Blake Boles. While in college, Blake stumbled upon a book that really opened his eyes to the world of unschooling, alternative education, and how students could be learning better outside of the traditional systems. Shortly after graduating, he worked in California doing outdoor education and then ran off to South America for three months, where he decided he wanted to work within the alternative education field while also traveling. He then started Unschool Adventures, where he takes students on two-month trips to interesting places around the world. Blake is an excellent guy to follow if you’re into the alternative education and unschooling movement, as well as the digital nomad space. We covered a wide range of topics, including: Alternative educational systems The unschooling movement and its goals Finding the motivation to leave the traditional school system Fixing the existing school systems The importance of self-directed learning Turning your passions into a career And much more. Please enjoy, and reach out to Blake on his website! If you enjoyed this episode and the bits on turning your passion into a career, you’ll like my episode with Tasha Meys, where we talk about that and more. If you want more on the schooling system, be sure to listen to my episode with William Deresiewicz, where we discuss that in-depth.   Find Blake Online: Website Unschool Adventures How to Live Nowhere Mentioned in the show: Unschool Adventures [0:55] Lonely Planet [3:27] Summerhill School [9:05] Astro Camp [9:41] Not Back to School Camp [13:41] Couchsurfing [34:16] Minerva [34:37] (Nat Chat episode with the founder) Liberated Learners [36:49] North Star [36:54] Lord of the Flies [37:53] Arthur Morgan school [40:20] Mooc [43:12] Blakes website [51:44] Blake’s newsletter [51:44] How to Live Nowhere [52:47] Books mentioned: Dumbing Us Down [11:11] A Different Kind of Teacher [11:13] Excellent Sheep [30:15] (Nat’s Notes) (Nat Chat episode) The Art of Self-directed Learning [51:44] (Blake’s other books) People mentioned: John Taylor Gatto [8:04] William Deresiewicz [30:15] (Nat Chat episode) 1:50 - Intro to Blake, some background on what he does, and some information on his business Unschool Adventures, where he takes unschooled teenagers on international trips. Also, how he figures out which places to take his students and some details on what they learn. 5:50 - Why Blake chose to do these trips for a younger crowd and who these students are. 7:06 - How Blake got involved in the unschooling movement, some of his experiences growing up with it, and his education. 11:23 - What Blake did before he started getting into the unschool movement and his transformational travel experience to South America. Also, how he started his lifestyle business and its beginnings. 16:32 - What made Blake choose to get into unschooling compared to other alternative schooling methods and him discussing some of the homeschooling laws in Germany and in the US. 20:11 - Blake’s thoughts on social integration with unschooling and some in-depth information on the social aspect of unschooling. Also, how it can be really beneficial for sociability. 25:11 - Blake's thoughts on whether it requires a certain type of person for unschooling and on whether it could work for every kid. 28:41 - Wealthy students sometimes having it the worst with going to these top schools and the negative aspects of the social pressure that they face with those schools. Blake’s thoughts on changing the existing school systems or whether it’s okay for a certain type of person. Also, the lack of self-efficacy with these traditional compared to unschooled students. 33:00 - Whether or not Blake was always comfortable figuring things out on his own and some of the things that helped him out the most with self-directed learning. 34:29 - Blake's thoughts on other alternative schooling programs and his thoughts on the practical issue that families interested in unschooling face, which is that the parents working often or that there’s only one parent. Also, which alternative school models Blake recommends the most. 39:19 - Whether or not Blake has thought about starting a center modeled after these other effective self-directed learning centers. Also, some of his future plans within the unschooling space. 42:16 - Blake’s ideas for fixing the education problem at the parental level, some more thoughts on how Blake’s parents helped him out regarding education, how parents can help their children more in regards to education, and where he started when he began questioning the education system. 46:37 - Blake detailing the de-schooling process and talking about the transition phases between mentally demanding periods of life. 49:10 - Some last thoughts from Blake and some thoughts on the extreme social comparison that can be made between unschooled students and regular students. 51:44 - Wrap-up and where to find Blake online. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://nateliason.com/podcast Unrestricted travel, in general, is such a great corollary for self-directed learning for having to figure out who you are and what you want to do, because no one’s going to hold your hand or make it easy for you or if they do, they’re going to charge you a bunch of money.

Bill Deresiewicz, bestselling author of Excellent Sheep, talks about the conversations he had with students that really had an impact when he was teaching at Yale and Columbia. His advice for how to do this with your own teen involves being non-judgmental.

“If you talked about class, you’d have to acknowledge that most of these students are in an extremely privileged class position, and then they would have to see themselves as being part of the problem and not part of the solution.” In this episode I’m joined by William (Bill) Deresiewicz. I reached out to Bill because I loved his book, Excellent Sheep, and thought it provided a fantastic heuristic for college students to evaluate whether or not they’re thinking for themselves. It’s especially relevant now, since the concept of not thinking for oneself and following the flock has spilled over into a lot of the social justice warrior and bigoteering behavior, where students lambast and assault people for their beliefs without taking the time to understand them. We cover a wide range of topics, including: Improving your ability to think for yourself and why you should Tackling the issues with rallying and free speech on campuses How and why certain aspects of college have changed over the years Improvising more when you don’t have a plan after college If college is necessary for those going into trade If you enjoyed our discussion of the problems with the college climate, you’d also enjoy my conversation with Angela Ma about depression on campus and how to manage it. Or if you want more on finding work you’re passionate about, listen to my conversation with Thomas Frank who has helped thousands of students do just that. Find Bill Online: Bill’s website Twitter Wikipedia Mentioned in the show: On Political Correctness (Bill’s article) Middlebury Middlebury Protest Goldman Sachs Khan Academy Code Academy MOOC Carnegie Mellon Thiel Fellowship Books mentioned: Excellent Sheep People mentioned: Larry Summers Peter Thiel Jane Austin 1:10 - Intro to Bill and his thoughts on the protesting against speeches at various universities and him discussing the social justice warriors, political correctness, and privilege in colleges. 6:19 - Bill's thoughts on students latching onto ideas and rallying since they may be lacking that from their studies and work. Also, Bill details why thinking for yourself more often is important. 9:04 - Learning to think for yourself more, Bill’s perspective on this, and how college education has changed. 12:40 - Bill speaking on why college education has changed over the last several decades and him going into detail on the competitive aspect of colleges. 16:15 - How to navigate the college system as a student, and some advice on how to choose the right education and get the most out of that education. 19:38 - Bill’s advice on the problem of not having a plan after graduation and speaking on the importance of learning to improvise more often in your career life. 22:13 - Discussing the issue with your education becoming obsolete within five to ten years or A.I. replacing your job. 25:25 - Bill’s thoughts on the popularity of Khan Academy, other alternative learning sites, and colleges in the future. 28:03 - Advice for those looking to self-educate outside of the classroom and advice for those who feel as though they aren’t learning as much as they should in the classroom. 30:48 - Is college is worth it for those not interested in the typical learning experience and who want to go into the trade field? 35:03 - Bill speaking about the other changes to the education system over the past several decades and his thoughts on the tenure system in colleges. 40:43 - How we should tackle the issue of free-speech and rallying in students, and help them think more for themselves. 43:11 - Bill’s recommendations for students wanting to get better at thinking for themselves and to improve their learning. Wrap up afterward. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://nateliason.com/podcast

William Deresiewicz (http://www.billderesiewicz.com/) is a New York Times Bestselling Author.  His book Excellent Sheep examines the high pressure tug of war between what parents and students think they are getting in an elite college, and in many cases what they are actually getting.   We talk about: How to think more clearly The importance of solitude Why multitasking is so destructive The value of skepticism What is college for? Rising college debt Is food art? Bill's daily habits How Bill writes Follow Bill on Twitter @WDeresiewicz and please share the show with someone who will enjoy it!

There’s a growing feeling amongst Americans that we’re suffering a crisis of leadership in our government, families, and businesses. People seem less independent and autonomous, and more directed by others. What's behind this lackluster leadership and what's the solution? My guest today argues that the problem has to do with the way we're bringing up what he calls "excellent sheep," and that the solution is equal doses of deep solitude and deep friendship. His name is William Deresiewicz and he’s the author of several books and speeches, including A Jane Austen Education, Excellent Sheep, and Solitude and Leadership. Today on the show, William and I discuss what most so-called leaders get wrong about leadership and why learning to be alone with your thoughts helps forge better leaders. We discuss the history of friendship, why friends are so hard to make as an adult, and what you can do to form deeper relationships. William and I also talk about how young people can stop being “excellent sheep,” and jumping through the hoops other people put in front of them in order to start living on their own terms. We cap our conversation with an exploration on why men should give Jane Austen a chance and the life lessons we can get from her novels. This is an eclectic, but wisdom-filled podcast. You're definitely going to hear something you'll end up mentally chewing on for days to come.

42 Minutes 209: William Deresiewicz - The Neoliberal Arts - 12.21.15 Itâ??s the darkest day of the year, so the program considers Class, Education, and Coming of Age with William Deresiewicz, author of the bestselling, Excellent Sheep. Topics Include: Myth, Star Wars, Meaning, Justice, Higher Education, Institutionalized, Spirit & Structure, Wildly Utopian, Oppression, The Matrix, Self, Soul, Victorian. http://billderesiewicz.com

What does friendship mean in the era of social media? what should the ideal college experience look like? what’s the difference between an entrepreneur and an artist? William Deresiewicz and I, Erik Torenberg, talk about these topics as well as his new book, Excellent Sheep, the Miseducation of America’s Elite and the way to a meaningful life. Check out his great book here: http://www.amazon.com/Excellent-Sheep-Miseducation-American-Meaningful/dp/1476702721 Edited by Alex Kontis

William Deresiewicz, author of Excellent Sheep and former English professor at Yale University, talks with host Blake Boles about the reaction to his controversial book, helicopter parenting and overindulgent parenting, the meaning of a “real education,” the benefits of a small liberal arts college experience, how someone who doesn’t go to college might replicate the experience (or not), two lesser-known colleges that are on the right track, and why reforming college admissions policies can improve K-12 schooling.

As a Professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz became concerned by what had happened to America’s education. More than anything, he found that rather than turning out leaders was turning out a bunch of mindless followers. In his book, Excellent Sheep Deresiewicz lays out how the nation’s best universities are miseducating our youth to be so obsessed with achieving success at all costs that we end up with politicians and business leaders who are selfish and complacent. You can find Excellent Sheep on Amazon. You can follow Professor Deresiewicz on twitter at @WDeresiewicz. If you reach out to him, he asks that you call him Bill.

“Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League.”  This was the headline of a recent New Republic article that reverberated across the internet recently, going viral as it was shared over 160 thousands times on Facebook. The author of this piece, Dr. William Deresiewicz, joins the New Books in Education podcast to discuss his new book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press 2014), which further elaborates upon his recent viral article and another from 2008,  “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education“. In Excellent Sheep, Deresiewicz draws on his decades of experience at Ivy League institutions; first, at Columbia where he did his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and then later at Yale where he taught for a decade. With an insiders view and a critical lens, he dissects what education at these types of institutions has become. He asserts that the hypercompetitive nature of elite institutions has taken away from self-discovery of students, a key facet to innovation and creativity. Deresiewicz’s book also confronts the social implications of a less meritocratic elite system of education. Particularly, he is concerned by the kind of elites that are being produced by prestigious education in America, with graduates that disproportionally pursue careers in self-serving fields like finance. Like his past viral essays, Excellent Sheep is a thought-provoking look at American society and provides keen insights into the world of elite education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League.”  This was the headline of a recent New Republic article that reverberated across the internet recently, going viral as it was shared over 160 thousands times on Facebook. The author of this piece, Dr. William Deresiewicz, joins the New Books in Education podcast to discuss his new book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press 2014), which further elaborates upon his recent viral article and another from 2008,  “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education“. In Excellent Sheep, Deresiewicz draws on his decades of experience at Ivy League institutions; first, at Columbia where he did his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and then later at Yale where he taught for a decade. With an insiders view and a critical lens, he dissects what education at these types of institutions has become. He asserts that the hypercompetitive nature of elite institutions has taken away from self-discovery of students, a key facet to innovation and creativity. Deresiewicz’s book also confronts the social implications of a less meritocratic elite system of education. Particularly, he is concerned by the kind of elites that are being produced by prestigious education in America, with graduates that disproportionally pursue careers in self-serving fields like finance. Like his past viral essays, Excellent Sheep is a thought-provoking look at American society and provides keen insights into the world of elite education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League.”  This was the headline of a recent New Republic article that reverberated across the internet recently, going viral as it was shared over 160 thousands times on Facebook. The author of this piece, Dr. William Deresiewicz, joins the New Books in Education podcast to discuss his new book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press 2014), which further elaborates upon his recent viral article and another from 2008,  “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education“. In Excellent Sheep, Deresiewicz draws on his decades of experience at Ivy League institutions; first, at Columbia where he did his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and then later at Yale where he taught for a decade. With an insiders view and a critical lens, he dissects what education at these types of institutions has become. He asserts that the hypercompetitive nature of elite institutions has taken away from self-discovery of students, a key facet to innovation and creativity. Deresiewicz’s book also confronts the social implications of a less meritocratic elite system of education. Particularly, he is concerned by the kind of elites that are being produced by prestigious education in America, with graduates that disproportionally pursue careers in self-serving fields like finance. Like his past viral essays, Excellent Sheep is a thought-provoking look at American society and provides keen insights into the world of elite education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League.”  This was the headline of a recent New Republic article that reverberated across the internet recently, going viral as it was shared over 160 thousands times on Facebook. The author of this piece, Dr. William Deresiewicz, joins the New Books in Education podcast to discuss his new book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press 2014), which further elaborates upon his recent viral article and another from 2008,  “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education“. In Excellent Sheep, Deresiewicz draws on his decades of experience at Ivy League institutions; first, at Columbia where he did his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and then later at Yale where he taught for a decade. With an insiders view and a critical lens, he dissects what education at these types of institutions has become. He asserts that the hypercompetitive nature of elite institutions has taken away from self-discovery of students, a key facet to innovation and creativity. Deresiewicz’s book also confronts the social implications of a less meritocratic elite system of education. Particularly, he is concerned by the kind of elites that are being produced by prestigious education in America, with graduates that disproportionally pursue careers in self-serving fields like finance. Like his past viral essays, Excellent Sheep is a thought-provoking look at American society and provides keen insights into the world of elite education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices