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I'm sorry, when did tracking not become the norm? When my wife (She-who-must-be-obeyed) and I were in school, we were both in what were called "X-Track" (or accelerated track) classes through middle and high school (matter of fact, we were in the same middle school classes and crosstown rival high schools - couldn't stand each other then; but I digress - that's another story). My daughter starts high school next month, and has separate 'honors' courses for various subjects.

The PC crowd would rather dumb down the curriculum for the 'slower' kids? What about the faster ones -- you know, the ones that should be in the more advanced courses -- do the PC crowd want to slow them down so they won't get too advanced for the slower kids to keep up?

Talk about insulting and nuts. Is there any wonder that school children in other cultures and countries are smarter than ours are?

I pulled my daughter out of public school and sent her to a private school when they cancelled the gifted students classes and she had to go to the slow-to-average classes. She tried to go to this school because her friends were there, but she was miserable, primarily because of the teachers who didn't want to teach a smart kid.

I selected a private school had a gifted students track, and it was the best decision I ever made for her (and I should have sent her to the school earlier, but she wanted to be with her friends). Because I was a single parent with a limited income, her tuition was a sacrifice, but it was an investment in my child. Homeschooling was not yet an option.

In the brief time she spent in a public high school she encounted open hostility from teachers. Her trig teacher accused my daughter of cheating because she did the problems in her head in warp speed....and that was the last day she ever spent in public school. When I withdrew her from school, the guidance counselor told me, "We'll have gifted student classes back in three to four years." I said, "And what shall I do with her in the meantime?" For some reason, he had no answer.

What about the faster ones -- you know, the ones that should be in the more advanced courses -- do the PC crowd want to slow them down so they won't get too advanced for the slower kids to keep up?

I assume that's a rhetorical question - that's exactly what they want, of course. ;)

After so many years, they've discovered that they can't prop up all the kids and make geniuses of them, so the trick to creating a classless society is to hobble those who would otherwise excel. Insidious and perverse, yes, but there it is...

What about the faster ones -- you know, the ones that should be in the more advanced courses -- do the PC crowd want to slow them down so they won't get too advanced for the slower kids to keep up?

Easy:
1. Kid gets bored silly in class.
2. Kid tries to find something interesting while the teacher repeats the same stuff eight times for the benefit of the dumbest kid in the class.
3. Teacher notices that kid isn't listening, screams "ADHD!"
4. Kid gets drugged into submission with Ritalin.
5. Kid drops out the moment he is legally able to.

Been there, done it all except the Ritalin (wasn't yet invented back then).

The PC crowd would rather dumb down the curriculum for the 'slower' kids?

Yup. Here in Montgomery Kounty,MD, there was a math curriculum audit a few years ago. At the end of the audit, the county was basically told if you don't lower the bar, you're racist. Pretty amazing and very sad. The soft bigotry of low expectations.
(And of coarse, the Kounty's first response was "OK! Where do we start?!?" but the parents went ballistic and it never came about.)