William Deresiewicz

The purpose of college is to enable you to live more alertly, more responsibly, more freely: more fully.

College is not about getting a job, it’s about getting an education.

You need to be happy when you go home.

The best reason to fail is to learn that failure isn’t the end of the world.

Aim high, to be sure, but do it for the love of the work.

Leadership had content, for those fortunate sons of the upper class; the concept made demands. It meant devotion to the benefit of others, not yourself.

The job of a leader, the job of a thinker, is to identify and ask them [questions]. This is where courage comes in.

In the liberal arts, you pursue the trail of inquiry wherever it leads. Truth, not use or reward, is the only criterion.

The highest function of art, and of literature in particular, is to bring us to that knowledge of ourselves that college ought to start to give us.

The past, in other words, allows us to create the future. If you want to be a leader, if you want to find a new direction, then that is where you need to start.

The perspectives that you get from studying the general—the wisdom, to come right out and say the word—are meant to interpenetrate the practice of your specialty.

A teacher’s job is to lead forth the powers that lie asleep within her students. A teacher awakens; a teacher inspires.

The SAT is supposed to measure aptitude; what it actually measures is parental income.

An elite education doesn’t simply fail to teach you how to talk to people who are genuinely different than you; it tells you that you shouldn’t even bother.

The meritocracy purports, like every ruling class, to act for the good of all. Its ethos is in fact, by definition, one of self-advancement.

Our leadership class, in short, has turned its back upon the rest of us.

The new dispensation must ensure—this is the essential thing—that privilege cannot be handed down.

The purpose of college, to put all this another way, is to turn adolescents into adults.

The Paradox of Potential

Elite students, particularly from prestigious institutions, often find themselves paralyzed by the vast array of possibilities available to them. This paradox means that instead of pursuing diverse career paths, they tend to stick to a few well-trodden routes, such as consulting or investment banking, for the sense of security and prestige they offer. Deresiewicz notes, 'Yale students... try to delay for as long as possible the moment when they have to become just one thing in particular.' This cautious approach is driven by a fear of failure and a desire to maintain their undifferentiated potential.

The Importance of Independent Thinking

Deresiewicz emphasizes the need for students to develop independent, critical thinking skills. He criticizes the current educational climate for promoting conformity and discouraging dissent. True leadership and intellectual growth require the ability to question accepted norms and challenge the status quo. This involves resisting groupthink and having the courage to be unpopular. 'The job of a leader, the job of a thinker, is to identify and ask them [questions]. This is where courage comes in.'

The system manufactures students who are smart and talented and driven, yes, but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose.

Self-knowledge is the most practical thing in the world, because it helps you find your way to a career that’s right for you.

Moral imagination means the capacity to envision new alternatives for how to live.

The Psychological Toll of Elite Education

The book highlights the severe psychological impact of the elite education system on students, who often experience 'toxic levels of fear, anxiety, and depression, of emptiness and aimlessness and isolation.' Deresiewicz provides evidence from surveys and personal anecdotes to illustrate the widespread mental health issues among elite college students. For example, nearly half of college students reported feelings of hopelessness, and almost a third felt 'so depressed that it was difficult to function during the past 12 months.' This psychological toll is exacerbated by the pressure to maintain a façade of effortless success.

The Illusion of Meritocracy

Deresiewicz critiques the contemporary meritocracy, arguing that it perpetuates inequality and self-interest rather than genuine leadership and societal benefit. He highlights that the meritocratic system is designed to serve the elite, who justify their privileged positions by claiming superior virtue and intelligence. 'The meritocracy purports, like every ruling class, to act for the good of all. Its ethos is in fact, by definition, one of self-advancement.' This system has led to a leadership class that is disconnected from the realities of most people's lives and is more focused on self-enrichment than public service.

The Erosion of Educational Ideals

The commercialization of higher education has eroded the core educational ideals that colleges should uphold. Instead of fostering intellectual curiosity and critical thinking, colleges now focus on providing amenities and ensuring high graduation rates to maintain their rankings. Deresiewicz states, 'Colleges now sell themselves to kids in terms of what they can give them, not what they plan to expect of them.' This shift has led to grade inflation and a lack of rigorous academic standards, as institutions fear losing students who view themselves as paying customers entitled to high grades and easy graduation.

The Value of Liberal Arts Education

Deresiewicz argues that a liberal arts education provides a foundation that transcends the immediate utility of technical knowledge. While technical skills may become obsolete, the ability to think critically and communicate effectively remains invaluable. He highlights that humanities majors often outperform their peers in standardized tests for professional schools, emphasizing the long-term benefits of a broad education. 'Humanities majors outperform biology majors on the MCAT, the medical school admissions test; social science majors on the LSAT, the law school admissions test; and business majors on the GMAT, the business school admissions test.'

The Role of Mentorship in Education

Deresiewicz underscores the critical role of mentorship in education, arguing that good teaching is not just about transferring information but about inspiring and guiding students. He describes how effective teachers challenge their students, care about them, and help them think in new ways. This mentorship is essential for students to develop their intellectual and emotional capacities. 'A teacher’s job is to lead forth the powers that lie asleep within her students. A teacher awakens; a teacher inspires.'

Engage in Self-Reflection

Regularly take time to reflect on your values, beliefs, and interests. This self-knowledge will guide you in making more informed and fulfilling career choices.

Prioritize Personal Growth

Focus on activities that enrich your inner life, such as reading, thinking, and having meaningful conversations. These activities will make you more interesting and fulfilled.

Exercise Moral Courage

Be willing to make choices that align with your values and beliefs, even if they go against societal expectations. This will help you live a more authentic and meaningful life.

Seek and Value Mentorship

Look for mentors who challenge you and care about your growth. Engage with them regularly to gain insights and guidance that go beyond academic or professional advice, helping you navigate your personal and intellectual development.

Engage in Interdisciplinary Learning

Actively seek out courses and experiences that allow you to integrate knowledge from different fields. This will help you develop a more holistic understanding and apply diverse perspectives to your work.

The opportunity not to be rich: to find your purpose and embrace your vocation, and still to live a decent life.

What do you owe your parents? Love, and when they need it later, care, but not submission. Not your life.

Take time off to slow down, to give yourself perspective, to break the cycle of incessant achievement.

If you grow up with less, you are much better able to deal with having less. That is itself a kind of freedom.

Inventing your life is not about becoming an artist or activist or entrepreneur or any other particular thing. It is simply about finding your way to work that’s right for you, whatever that may be.

The only point of having more is having more than everybody else.

The college admissions game... is not about whether you go to an elite school. It’s about which one you go to.

Parents of high achievers are often oblivious, even willfully so, to what their kids are going through.

Preteens and teens from affluent, well-educated families... experience among the highest rates of depression, substance abuse, anxiety disorders, somatic complaints, and unhappiness of any group of children in this country.

I am a robot just going page by page, doing the work.

Perfectionism... fosters self-hatred by telling the child that he isn’t worthy of his parents’ love.

We are robbing children of their childhood and teenagers of their adolescence. We have engineered a vast regimentation of youth.

Higher education increasingly resembles any other business now. What pays is in; what doesn’t is under the gun.

Colleges now sell themselves to kids in terms of what they can give them, not what they plan to expect of them.

The first thing that college is for is to teach you to think... It means developing the habit of skepticism and the capacity to put it into practice.

A real education sends you into the world bearing questions, not resumes.

The ability to engage in introspection, I suggested, is the essential precondition for living the life of the mind, and the essential precondition for introspection is solitude.

Look beneath the façade of affable confidence and seamless well-adjustment that today’s elite students have learned to project, and what you often find are toxic levels of fear, anxiety, and depression, of emptiness and aimlessness and isolation.

The purpose of life becomes the accumulation of gold stars. Hence the relentless extracurricular busyness, the neglect of learning as an end in itself, the inability to imagine doing something that you can’t put on your resume.

It’s hard to build your soul when everyone around you is trying to sell theirs.

You won't be able to recognize the things you really care about until you have released your grip on all the things that you have been taught to care about.

Most elite college graduates end up in financing or consulting, because they don’t know what they really want and feel lost.

College was a time of self-discovery and learning to think critically, and we need to go back to that.

The most prestigious college institutions are run like businesses, not schools, so they miss the point of education.

The purpose of college is to enable you to live more alertly, more responsibly, more freely: more fully.

College is not about getting a job, it’s about getting an education.

You need to be happy when you go home.

The best reason to fail is to learn that failure isn’t the end of the world.

Aim high, to be sure, but do it for the love of the work.

Leadership had content, for those fortunate sons of the upper class; the concept made demands. It meant devotion to the benefit of others, not yourself.

The job of a leader, the job of a thinker, is to identify and ask them [questions]. This is where courage comes in.

In the liberal arts, you pursue the trail of inquiry wherever it leads. Truth, not use or reward, is the only criterion.

The highest function of art, and of literature in particular, is to bring us to that knowledge of ourselves that college ought to start to give us.

The past, in other words, allows us to create the future. If you want to be a leader, if you want to find a new direction, then that is where you need to start.

The perspectives that you get from studying the general—the wisdom, to come right out and say the word—are meant to interpenetrate the practice of your specialty.

A teacher’s job is to lead forth the powers that lie asleep within her students. A teacher awakens; a teacher inspires.

The SAT is supposed to measure aptitude; what it actually measures is parental income.

An elite education doesn’t simply fail to teach you how to talk to people who are genuinely different than you; it tells you that you shouldn’t even bother.

The meritocracy purports, like every ruling class, to act for the good of all. Its ethos is in fact, by definition, one of self-advancement.

Our leadership class, in short, has turned its back upon the rest of us.

The new dispensation must ensure—this is the essential thing—that privilege cannot be handed down.

The purpose of college, to put all this another way, is to turn adolescents into adults.

The system manufactures students who are smart and talented and driven, yes, but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose.

Self-knowledge is the most practical thing in the world, because it helps you find your way to a career that’s right for you.

Moral imagination means the capacity to envision new alternatives for how to live.

The opportunity not to be rich: to find your purpose and embrace your vocation, and still to live a decent life.

What do you owe your parents? Love, and when they need it later, care, but not submission. Not your life.

Take time off to slow down, to give yourself perspective, to break the cycle of incessant achievement.

If you grow up with less, you are much better able to deal with having less. That is itself a kind of freedom.

Inventing your life is not about becoming an artist or activist or entrepreneur or any other particular thing. It is simply about finding your way to work that’s right for you, whatever that may be.

The only point of having more is having more than everybody else.

The college admissions game... is not about whether you go to an elite school. It’s about which one you go to.

Parents of high achievers are often oblivious, even willfully so, to what their kids are going through.

Preteens and teens from affluent, well-educated families... experience among the highest rates of depression, substance abuse, anxiety disorders, somatic complaints, and unhappiness of any group of children in this country.

I am a robot just going page by page, doing the work.

Perfectionism... fosters self-hatred by telling the child that he isn’t worthy of his parents’ love.

We are robbing children of their childhood and teenagers of their adolescence. We have engineered a vast regimentation of youth.

Higher education increasingly resembles any other business now. What pays is in; what doesn’t is under the gun.

Colleges now sell themselves to kids in terms of what they can give them, not what they plan to expect of them.

The first thing that college is for is to teach you to think... It means developing the habit of skepticism and the capacity to put it into practice.

A real education sends you into the world bearing questions, not resumes.

The ability to engage in introspection, I suggested, is the essential precondition for living the life of the mind, and the essential precondition for introspection is solitude.

Look beneath the façade of affable confidence and seamless well-adjustment that today’s elite students have learned to project, and what you often find are toxic levels of fear, anxiety, and depression, of emptiness and aimlessness and isolation.

The purpose of life becomes the accumulation of gold stars. Hence the relentless extracurricular busyness, the neglect of learning as an end in itself, the inability to imagine doing something that you can’t put on your resume.

It’s hard to build your soul when everyone around you is trying to sell theirs.