From the introduction: Chilton is a venerable New England institution that’s dominated by old money families. The parents and administration know that the students there are smart and capable, but THEY don’t know as much as they think. First, Chilton students are like high school students anywhere else in America - they find ways to get drunk and places to sneak off for sex. Second, the school encourages competition for spots at Ivy League schools, but doesn’t grasp why that atmosphere expresses itself in meanness and petty power struggles. They’re always roping parents into organizing activities and that leads to a surprising number of students’ moms around for a boarding school. And even for an elite school Chilton is surprisingly old-fashioned. The classes are largely the same as they were in the 1950s and educational reforms seem to just pass Chilton by.