Couldn't agree with you more, except that I'd add it's even broader. There are a lot of families I know who pull their kids because of the SPECIAL ED fiasco, whether ADD drugs are involved or not. When schools start classifying kids who excell at one subject but are merely above average in others as LEARNING DISABLED and want to put them in special ed with the kids who really should be in disciplinary school, you know something is wrong.
It is not new- the schools systems have just gotten more brazen about it all and are trying to grab more funds - so it is more widespread.
I am not even 40 and I have known about the problems in public schools for 15 or more years now.