The brief critical examination focuses on existing special education practices in schools in which diagnosis is said to have become a suspicion confirming exercise. Labeling-categorization of children with either mild or severe degrees of exceptionality is singled out as a harmful practice. Ethical and legal issues then considered are the variance in meaning of categories of exceptionality, the ethics of classifying human beings, and recent law suits challenging the validity of placing certain children in special classes for the educable mentally retarded. Other topics briefly covered include psycho-social orientation to special education, mental retardation as an artifact of educational process, handicapped persons as surplus population, and teachers' training programs and exceptionality. The paper concludes by advocating that the practice of special classification and educational placement be removed from the current educational scene. (CB)