“Colleges should remember that selecting students by GPA more often benefits the faithful drudge than the original mind.”
― William Deresiewicz, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of America’s Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
I found William Deresiewicz’s Excellent Sheep through reading one of his early articles which formed the basis for this book. As someone who attended state universities, then went to art school, I have felt the sting of feeling comfortable with my well-rounded education and intellectual curiosity, then slowly realizing that I have no legibility in today’s marketplace because I didn’t follow the proscribed educational stairway to success and wealth, and consequently have neither in any great quantity. I have a child who is fast approaching college age and I wonder every day how he will deal with the experience when, much like his parents, he has been anything but an excellent sheep.
Husband is a college professor and they aren’t well paid (maybe the author refers to Yale professors?) so while tenure is in theory a good thing, the profession as a whole is a high-stress long-hour gristmill so you’re right, there is precious little energy to mentor or mold students outside of classroom time.
He would also agree with the statement that most students are automatons that don’t think about creative problem solving and are just going through the paces to get the grade and move on :(
I actually had to explain my GPA in an interview (which FYI wasn’t low in the least bit not a 4.0) and I explained that when in college I took things I found interesting and challenging, far exceeding the scope of my prescribed courses (staying an extra year just to get in all that I could). No, I didn’t master my astrophysics class, but I didn’t fail and I learned so much.
I try to impart this to my own students. Being a “perfect student” looks very different depending on your view of learning and education.
This book was picked for our professor pedagogy committee at school and it was a big hit. It’s definitely on my to-read list.