The Excellent Sheep By William Deresiewicz - 849 Words

The first quote from Warner is â€Å"every aspect of American thought and action is powerfully influence by social class; to think realistically and act effectively, we [people] must know and understand our status system† (Levine 90). This shows that he relates to Marx as he agrees that both social class plays an important factor in society. The way people think about life and other groups is affected by class. Social class has also taught individuals how to act, how to dress and talk. Each classes have different expectations for their children, the rich expect them to go to college and be successful while lower classes do not always put so much emphases on education. The topic of education was heavily discussed when the class read The Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz, were he talked about how the elite education might not be all it is believed to be worth. Also in class, it was discussed how the upper class believe that all people in the lower classes are the same, and vice versa for the lower-class for the upper-classes. Through studying Warner, it is important to understand society and prestige because it is suppressing how much influence both factors have over society. The Second quote from Warner is, â€Å"Its [The American Dream is] two fundamental themes and propositions, that all of us are equal and that each of us has right to the chance of reaching the top, are mutually contradictory, for if men are equal there can be no top level to aim for, no bottom one to getShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Sylvia Plaths The Bell Jar1593 Words   |  7 Pagesinto a deep depression as she remains trapped in limbo, unable to choose a direction for her professional or personal life to follow. While Esthers frozen state is detrimental to her mental health, she avoids the fate of students like her in Excellent Sheep, who are too afraid of the pressures of deciding a future that they instead fit the mold of a perfect pupil, leaving them unhappy and unfulfilled. This instinct to default into the accepted norm is not just seen in regards to postsecondary education;Read MoreLearning For The Love Of God1234 Words   |  5 Pagesplay in the ways colleges develop into factories which produce â€Å"excellent sheep,† but not well-educated people, which explains why people believe what they do about college. Along with the belief that higher education no longer teaches deeper learning skills, some people assume that colleges only teach students to achieve personal â€Å"success.† In a review of William Deresiewicz’s Excellent Sheep, Perry Glanzer shares that, â€Å"Deresiewicz claims the system ‘forces you to choose between learning and success†Read MoreThe True Nature Of Humankind1309 Words   |  6 Pagescreatures that need to be subjected to extreme authority in order to act morally. The way Hobbes sets up this argument by imploring the readers to imagine the world before society and the conditioning we are subjected to in order to become â€Å"excellent sheep†(William Deresiewicz). Hobbes suggests that humans in the state of nature are compelled solely by self-interest. In fact, I have noticed that even the most seemingly altruistic of acts can seem to boil down to a conception of self-interest different than