School too easy, teenagers say study finds high school students also put off by unruly classmates   WASHINGTON, DC - Teenagers nationwide have issued a decisive verdict on their high schools. A new study reports that most think their classes are not challenging enough, often lack exemplary teachers and are filled with too many disruptive students. The study, conducted by the national non-profit group Public Agenda, sketches a portrait of American high schools in which most students are coasting through their classes -- and know it -- and who view their years there as time spent to gain practical job skills and good work habits. Most students who were questioned as part of the survey said they liked their schools overall. But about 70 percent said that unruly students distract them and undermine classes. Also, 65 percent of students said they do not try very hard to succeed in class, and half reported that teachers do not insist on high academic standards. Researchers highlighted the comment of one California teenager who took part in the survey as typical of many student responses illustrating how easy it is to earn acceptable grades without much work: ``I didn't do one piece of homework last year in math,'' he said. ``I just took the tests. I'd get A's on the tests, not do the homework, and I got a B in class. There's just lots of ways to getaround it.'' The survey also included a special focus on 300 high school students in the Bay Area. Bay Area students were more likely to say their classes were too crowded -- 61 percent vs. 45 percent nationwide, not surprising because the state boasts the most crowded classrooms in the nation. Bay Area students also said they believed private schools in their area were better than the public schools -- 38 percent vs. 26 percent nationally. More than half the students, 51 percent, also said that too many of their teachers do a bad job. That compares with 42 percent nationwide. The survey, titled ``Getting By,'' included the responses of more than 1,300 high school students nationwide who were selected randomly and interviewed by phone. Most of them attend public schools. Some were gathered together at five sites around the country to discuss their views. The findings match those in other recent studies that found substantial numbers of students disengaged from learning. The Public Agenda report also suggests that most students' priorities are the same: They are eager to master basic reading and math, to work with computers, and to gain values such as honesty and tolerance. But they often question the relevance of learning subjects such as history or literature. In the survey, 75 percent of students said that learning computer skills was ``extremely important.'' But only 32 percent gave the same priority to history or geography, and 23 percent to learning classics by Shakespeare or Plato. Studying modern American writers such as Ernest Hemingway or John Steinbeck ranked last on a list of subjects given to students to rate. Still, researchers said they were heartened to find strong support among students for having tougher standards in class. Three-fourths of them said that they believed they would learn more, and that school would seem more meaningful, if they were pushed harder by better teachers.