America is a pretty great place to live. We enjoy freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly, and there's no nation with such a diverse melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. What many people don’t know, however, is that America’s children rank at the bottom of the 19 industrialized countries in arithmetic, writing and reading.

In “Excellent Sheep,” a manifesto focused on the downfalls of American higher education, author William Deresiewicz, a former English professor at Yale University, said, “The only real grade is this: how well you’ve lived your life.” Yet, this  piece of advice is sadly ignored here.

The education crisis in the United States is indicative of a loss of identity in students. American students have adopted a sheep-like mentality — people, so-called “sheeple,” capable only of following preset orders.

Deresiewicz argues that students’ insatiable need to get into an elite school is cheating them out of a healthy education. Among other problems, he says high school students rarely stray away from anything that doesn’t fatten up their resume or GPA.

Especially in  competitive schools like Saratoga, pressure to do well often consumes a student’s life. Who can get the highest grade on that essay? Who can score the highest on that midterm? The students who come out at the top of the heap are the ones who are able to regurgitate learned material on tests and remember all the formulas, not necessarily the most creative or innovative.

Too many students are reliant on a grades to tell them their status in school. He thinks standardized testing is especially nefarious. The American schooling system is asking the fish, elephant and squirrel to climb a tree — each student has his own strengths and faults, and judging them on standards of conformity is not only detrimental, but inaccurate. The sheeple succeeds due to its ability to excel in a task of mindless replication.

Finally, at the end of their education at top-tier universities, these sheeple will be ready to be fed into a corporate company, along with the other 10 million carbon copies of this “over-achiever.” There is so much hoop-jumping overachieving during their time in high school that many of them don’t have a clue about what they’d like to do in their future.  These seemingly “smart” people find out that they are unable to apply any of their learning.
There’s a simple solution to the debilitating issue of sheeple. American education should redouble its efforts to emphasize non-conformity and individualism while still maintaining high standards of basic knowledge.

Colleges should focus on a more rounded student rather than a student with an A average. Too many colleges look only at GPA and standardized tests when evaluating a prospective student. But it’s not just the colleges; students are also at fault.

It only takes one new experience for students to re-evaluate their goals or objectives, making for a more stimulating learning experience. Participating in extracurriculars that one is actually passionate about, embarking on new adventures and learning to study independently are all signs of individuality. In order to eliminate the crisis of sheeple, it’s time to reform the schooling system by creating a more specialized curriculum while experiencing life outside of the classroom.

In the end, students are branded with a number, whether it be their GPA or SAT score, the same way sheep are branded with a iron. It’s time for students to establish their individuality and break from the herd.