Overachievers, The: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids

Blurb

The Overachievers or The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids is a nonfiction book written by Alexandra Robbins. Using the example of some American teenagers, it centers upon overachievement in high school, emphasizing its negative effect in modern American society. It specifically examines the belief that being successful depends on attaining the perfect GPA and being accepted by the "right" college.
Throughout the work, the author follows eight students who have a lifestyle where overachieving takes priority. She occasionally interrupts to address issues that affect one of the teens and explains its negative effect on an international scale. She discusses how social pressure from parents and friends, drugs, drinking, and suicide play a part in high school teenager's lives.
She puts the No Child Left Behind Act in a negative light by placing an emphasis on standardized tests and claims the college admissions process in the United States to be corrupt and inefficient.
For three semesters Alexandra Robbins followed eight Walt Whitman High School students around in their daily lives to document their lives and incorporate them into her book.