I was tracked in Jr. High school, but I was tracked in the "academically gifted" category. I found out in High School that the "academically gifted" class meant nothing.

I went to a engineering and science oriented high school. I spent 1 1/2 years catching up before I hit my stride. Despite the urgings of my counselors and a couple of teachers, one a self proclaimed redneck pig farmer, I stayed in the advanced college prep course and it paid off.

The teachers praised the advanced college prep and college prep tracks and had high expectations of us. They expected us to be tomorrows leaders. They held low expectations of the technical track students and let us and the tech track students know it. I knew it was wrong then, and that belief has gotten stronger as I have aged.

Having written that, if the parents haven't done what they could to get their kids to get into the higher classes and get the system changed, then the parents failed their kids.

Shame on the parents.