What you did was completely age appropriate. Same as me with slacking off in senior year. Even while I was doing it, I knew better, but the “don’t care” was stronger than the “you really should”.
I personally think the way school is done is too much same for too long, too dragged out. 12 years straight. At least college there’s some flexibility but it’s really a long time. I think that’s the primary reason kids get sick and tired of it at some point. It’s not the learning: I love learning, always did. But it’s the format. It gets old. They should get creative and change it up.