School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a Top American High School

What is the price of an education at a top public high school?

Whitney High delivers everything we ask of a school: a love of learning, a sense of mission, and SAT scores to die for. But there are unintended consequences to attending the school of our dreams, as author Edward Humes found during his year inside this world of high achievement and high pressure.

Students work nearly around the clock, building futures to please parents as much as themselves. Their drug of choice? Caffeine. Th...