the education revolution

Yes Dave disruptive students are a big problem faced by Govt schools. I estimate that about 5% of kids are disruptive. These kids consume a very large proportion of staff time (teachers, exec, DPs and Principals). Another 20% are quietly non-compliant. Together, this renders many public schools borderline disfunctional. Principals etc try very hard to cover this up. Principals get up at staff meetings and say to the teachers "for godness sake, don't talk about what is going on at this school when you go to a BBQ this weekend"

Its the other 75% of kids who suffer. They tire of the endless battling between teachers and a minority of students in classrooms and may become disengaged themselves.
If you want to know what it is REALLY like in public high schools, look at a book entitled "Its Your Time You're Wasting" by Frank Chalk. It is about a teacher's recent experience in the UK public system. It is uncannily similar to what is happening here. Dave, we can't allow this to continue.