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Any solution to the current educational system failure will have to include the return to [or introduction anew of] the rigorous streaming [segregation] by intellectual ability

You are absolutely correct. Nobody wants to address this because we are supposed to be politically correct and say that everyone is equal and can succeed equally if just given and equal education. This is just not so. I also believe that many kids would be happier and more productive if they would be streamlined into pursuits more in line with their abilities and interests (i.e. skilled trades for young men who enjoy physical labor or working with their hands, arts for those so inclined, etc...) What we have now is a systme where everyone, regardless of ability or interest, is assumed to want to go onto college and go into academics or desk jobs. I think this is why you have such a large drop-out rate. At some point these kids just say 'this isn't me, this isn't what I want to do'. And you know what? If at 16 they would rather be working in a trade, then I think everyone would be better off for it. One size does not fit all.

This is what Gatto said:
The only way I can see after spending 35 years in and around the institution (53 if I count my own time as inmate) is to put full choice squarely back into the hands of parents, let the marketplace redefine schooling - a job the special interests are incapable of - and encourage the development of as many styles of schooling as there are human dreams. Let people, not bureaucrats, work out their own destinies. That's what made us a great country in the first place."

If we allow parents, teachers, principals the freedom they will maximize the potential of all children in as many ways "as there are human dreams". ( What an nice simile)

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The problem with this is that it is hard to tell what is going on with a kid.

I have a daughter who is brain damaged. Where would she fit in?

One size definitely does not fit each kid, but I don't trust the schools to figure it out.

We are pulling my daughters from public school because they refuse to give my daughter extra help in reading that we (parents,a learning specialist, a neuropsychologist, and a speech therapist) think she needs.

We are going with private school. She'll be mainstreamed most of the day, and then pulled out for a multi-sensory reading program. I hope it helps her. I'll have to wait a while to see if she makes progress.