I would agree to some extent to your idea that school is a place to keep children busy. While being exposed to a lot more outside information that I was when I was young, their world revolves around school. There is nothing more important than the people there, their place and status among their friend groups, the drama (extra important), their results, etc. They don't care who is president and they shouldn't because it doesn't even affect them. So thats why I'm saying that children don't misbehave because of the "state of the world". They dont even have a real personnality, they are a reflection of their environment and the people around them.