That isn't the only lie being sold to these students. Teachers and principals LIE to students when then pass them from grade to grade without having mastered the basics.
I often read of “X” percentage of children in a particular grade being “below basic”. Huh? Why are they even labeled as being in that grade? If they are in the 9th grade with 3rd grade reading and math skills then his teachers and principals have LIED to that student and his parents!
No, I don't think big hairy 15 year olds should be in the same classes as 9 year old fourth graders. They should be in classes with other 15 year olds but in no way should they be led to believe that they are nothing more than on the 3rd grade level and their chances of earning a graduation diploma are near hopeless.
At the K-12 level, teachers and administrators are usually pressured by parents to pass their kids. Most parents these days take their kids side and not the side of the educator. ‘the teacher hates me’, ‘the teacher is a racist’, ‘the teach is a sexist’ and so forth.