Maybe that's it. Maybe it's a guy/girl thing. I think I'll query my friends and acquaintances of about the same age and see if I'm way off base or not.
I do want to clear up one thing, though. When I mentioned "gangs," it must be understood that they weren't gangs in the sense that we think of them now. They were just guys, and some girls, who lived in the same neighborhood, ran together, did things together and got in trouble together. Eventually, a good many of them ended up going to prison together or dying together from shootings, knifings or drunken car wrecks. Even that very small town where I went to school, the same pattern prevailed except that there was no other neighborhood and we ALL did that kind of thing. Of the bunch I ran around with, the ultimate destination for most of us was either the Army or the state prison. Two are currently doing life without.
But, most of us eventually settled down, raised families and worked until retirement. We became good, solid, middle class citizens in spite of our school experiences.
That's the thing, see? No matter how "bad" the schools are, or how much they fail students, most of them will turn out just fine and they'll have gotten the basic tools for success right there in those "awful" public schools. Those kids will survive. Not only survive, but prosper from having had the experience. Yes, some won't, but most will and the difference will be what they learned at home, not what they learned anywhere else.