Wilder had a particularly rough day at school. Seventh grade proved to be a lot more involved than he anticipated. If he'd known how much reading, homework and paper-writing were on the table, Wilder never would have accepted his counselor's advice to schedule a full slate of honors courses.

To start off the morning was a one-two punch of receiving a grade of 68% on his latest algebra test, a solid D, followed by Mr. Banton assigning a first draft of his paper on F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" to be done over the coming weekend. Wilder hadn't even read the book yet, basing the outline he turned in the day before on a Wikipedia entry.

And then, following an unappetizing lunch of fried fish nuggets and macaroni and cheese that was nearly indistinguishable from mashed...

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