Originally Posted by Herc708
Assumptions are one of aviations worst enemies.
An oft-quoted adage and one that should be stored in the mind to be brought out at appropriate times. But it seems to me that you may be making some assumptions about how ATC works, Herc.
The reason that ATC sometimes wants to know the aircraft type is because that is what is important for applying ATC procedures in that environment. There are lots of different classifications and groupings used in aviation and they each have their purpose and their place. As many controllers have already pointed out, a performance category or whatever is not usually relevant to controllers in an approach environment...despite the fact that you clearly think it should be.
That is not to say that things can't or shouldn't change if the need is there. There are a number of mechanisms available to anyone involved in the business of aviation to raise concerns about procedures etc. If those concerns are valid (and not addressed in some way elsewhere in the system), change follows.
But there is another adage that springs to mind - if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.