Children ARE being retarded in public schools, Ebbie. From the original post, look at this example again:

"....David learns to read at age four; Rachel, at age nine: In normal development, when both are 13, you can't tell which one learned first—the five-year spread means nothing at all. But in school I label Rachel "learning disabled" and slow David down a bit, too. For a paycheck, I adjust David to depend on me to tell him when to go and stop. He won't outgrow that dependency. I identify Rachel as discount merchandise, "special education" fodder. She'll be locked in her place forever."

I ran into a retired teacher today and this was fresh on my mind, and I asked him about it. He said it was absolutely true. Bright kids are taught to self-regulate. They put the brakes on themselves when they feel the urge to learn faster. They're taught this in their earliest years at school. And slower kids are labeled in a way that affects them the rest of their lives. Gatto got sick of the system, analyzed it and now explains it. I encourage you to read his book, or at least the parts that look interesting to you. The public school system churns out children who need to be taken care of, and the system was set up by design. It's the factory that provides product for the social services industry.