Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

True self-esteem means not caring whether you get an A in the first place. It means recognizing, despite all you’ve been trained to believe, that the grades you get do not define your value as a human being. It means deciding for yourself what constitutes success.

Education is the way that a society articulates its values: the way that it transmits its values.

In order to invent your life, you need to overcome that thing the system is so good at inculcating: fear of failure.

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: trapped in a bubble of privilege, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it.

Beyond a moderate level of material comfort, happiness consists of two things: feeling connected to others and engaging in meaningful work.