I agree that the current situation is actually worse but when I was in grade school, junior high, and high school, you can bet I was there to LEARN. My mother made sure of that.
The teachers back then didn't have to worry about whether corporal punishment was allowed or not. If you misbehaved and made the environment one unconducive to learning you got smacked with a paddle in grade school, sent to the principle's office and smacked with a paddle there in junior high, or if in high school, depending on the teacher, got sent to the principle's office and had your parents called to come to the school IMMEDIATELY (and the parents were NOT happy about leaving work to deal with this type of thing), or got smacked (period) by the teacher.
Not all the kids were there to learn but it was made clear that they weren't to interfere with the kids that WERE there to learn.
Man, don't I sound like an old fogey? ;^)
I understand the point you're making, and it's a valid one. But my point is that no one emerges from schooling unscathed, even the "good" students.
I was a "good" student. I did everything "right." And I left school utterly confused and depressed, alienated from myself, and ignorant of the things that matter most in life.
In some ways, the "bad" students are better off. They're more conscious of the fact that they're being abused.