I went to a school in a prairie state.
It happened.
Perhaps you misunderstand what a rough school is.
In the third grade kids were knocked unconscious in you school? Well that’s rough.
I grew up in the 50s. Started HS in 62. We had tough kids, bullies. People would get into fights walking home. But it ended when someone went down hard and called ‘uncle’. Kicking and biting and using ‘devices’ was called dirty fighting.