The stories in the collection concern a typical suburban, public high school. Typical is the operative word. Tax money poured in by the local community for extraordinary services provided to all school-age children. Money spent everywhere: acclaimed educators hired, spectacular facilities built, resources like computers and laboratory equipment acquired, extra-curricular activities created, yet the outcome? Academic failure, violence, drugs, gangs, and, drop-out rates approaching fifty percent. There is the result! Why? Where has the money gone? The resources gone? The stories provide a glimpse and a few answers. There are portraits of students, teachers, and, school administrators. In these you can figure the reasons for the failures. Often, the failure is a combination of forces, the kids themselves, instability of parents and extended families, poor teachers and administrators, and, a bureaucracy gone wild. To pinpoint any one cause as a reason for the school's record is difficult at best.