Dumb it down

I attended, by request, parent teacher conference last week. I came out very frustrated. Why is it that I had to contact my child's teacher to hear that he is "behind in everything". I came out thinking he is being left behind. School teaches to the middle of the group, not those ahead, not those behind. I think that is why they don't give real grades anymore. No one can fail, so lets not really grade them so it doesn't look like we are pushing kids through who are really struggling. Kids should want to learn, there are so many things to learn that are really cool! Kids shouldn't, in my opinion, hate school in elementary. I guess when you don't really understand much of what is going on, you lose interest...makes sense. Things need to change.