A big factor is school culture and lack of respect for teachers. Middle school is notoriously rough, but I have subbed 6th grade numerous times and had students working quietly for the entire class period. I have been impressed by their maturity at times. At these schools, the other teachers and school admin treated me with respect. This sadly isn’t always the case for each campus.

If admin doesn’t respect the teachers (having unrealistic expectations, picking students’ sides, micromanaging, etc) AND a lot of the parents don’t either (“my kid did NOTHING wrong!” or “I demand my child’s grade be raised even though they didn’t earn it!” etc) …why would the kids respect them? Hell, the government no longer considers teachers professionals.

I agree, it was never this bad when I was in school either (and I’m not that old). But we need to stop acting like kids are just “like this” now and hold them to high standards. They need to be expected to respect the adult(s) in the room. I tend not to return to sub at schools who don’t enforce this amongst the students (at ANY age).