This reminded me of the first day at the CC, when you go to this "introductory" session where they have one of the counselors or maybe a V.P. of the school "Welcome to XYZ CC" and such speech.
In my post about the CC I mentioned that I started in the second semester, having spent the first one after H.S. unloading trucks.
It was one of the counselors, I found out later found out, who amid all the loud chatter of the students-to-be, walked to the podium and the entire room immediately fell silent. He remarked on that, saying that the difference between first semester and second semester students was dramatic. As you pointed out many of the first semester students were there because they were told to be there by parents or they had to be there.
But the second semester students were there because they WANTED to be there, and there was a world of difference in the way they approached school and behaved. They'd had time to think about what they wanted to do and how to achieve that, where many of the first semester students had not.