Educational environments should foster exploration, healthy self development, and ripe opportunities to think independently. Instead, as our guest today puts it, we see that our youth experience a ‘poverty of the self,” leading to group think, pressure to conform and a lack of strength and stability from within. On today’s episode, we’ll unpack this idea and discuss how parents can drive against these forces. 

William Deresiewicz (DEREZOWITZ) is an award-winning essayist and critic, a frequent speaker at colleges, high schools, and other venues, and the author of five books including the New York Times bestseller Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. His latest book is The End of Solitude: Selected Essays on Culture and Society. Bill taught English at Yale and Columbia before becoming a full-time writer. He has spoken at over 160 educational and other venues and has appeared on The Colbert Report, Here & Now, The New Yorker Radio Hour, and many other outlets.