Well, I can think of dozens of things that distract students and disrupt the learning process. Teaching to the test. Moments of "silence," which from what I've seen, teachers and students disregard in equal measure. The Pledge of Allegiance, which is controversial enough nowadays. P.A. systems with sound quality akin to the McDonald's drive-thru. Administrators barging into the classroom to pile more bureaucratic paperwork on the teacher. Assemblies. Pep rallies. Zero tolerance policies that make it all too easy for students to be suspended and/or expelled and/or taken out of the school in handcuffs. Nothing distracting about that — nooooo!

IMO, students need to LEARN HOW to work amid distraction. Adults do it constantly. We take care of our kids with the TV on; we watch traffic while we talk to our kids; we pay bills while the dog is having an existential crisis. It's called LIFE. No two people, and no two days are ever exactly the same. We roll with it. Why can't schools make it a policy that students are expected to do their JOB, which is learning, regardless of visual, auditory, or olfactory distractions in the classroom?

Remove this excuse and school might become less of a gulag.

I guess we can dream.