Here’s a stark fact: Too many children move through this city’s public-school system without ever mastering English.

When this happens, they find themselves condemned to low-wage, low-skilled jobs at the edge of the American Dream. In short, this city’s school system is pulling the ladder of opportunity out from under them before they’ve gotten to the first rung.

A new study on English Language Learners, or ELLs, from the Manhattan Institute, highlights the plight.

Marcus Winter, author of the study, found there’s not much difference between charters and traditional public schools when it comes to how ELLs fare.

But he also found that — contrary to teacher-union mythology — this is because fewer ELLs apply to charters, not because the charters are cherry-picking.

The stakes are huge.

A Stanford University study found, for example, a large crossover effect from better English: In a study of 7 million New York City students over several years, it found that those with good English teachers did better than expected on math, too.

Which makes sense: Kids who master the language will have an easier time mastering other subjects.

You can’t blame it on immigrants, either. Here in New York, what’s most outrageous about this failure is that nearly 70 percent of the long-term ELL kids were born here.

This means that, over the course of six years in our public schools, we are failing to teach American citizens English.

Too often, when we see these failures, we go back to the same education establishment that has produced them. If they are to learn English, these kids need high standards and someone willing to think outside the establishment box.

In short, the common-sense approach ought to be to look for a solution to those who are succeeding in teaching demographic groups written off as un-educable — primarily our high-performing charters.

So instead of more of the same, how about, say, chartering a dozen new schools across this city for total English immersion — and let parents make the decision?