Are Honors/AP classes sometimes the only way for well behaved students to escape disruptive classrooms?

I wanted to share something from my own experience and ask educators what they think. I didn’t end up graduating high school. I was in special education classes because of my autism, but the environment in all of those classes was extremely disruptive. A lot of students simply didn’t care about school and there were constant behavior issues. It often felt like the teacher had to spend most of the class time managing behavior instead of actually teaching. I want to be clear that I’m not criticizing special education services themselves. I understand many students genuinely need those supports. At the same time, having a disability doesn’t excuse a lot of the disruptive behavior that was happening in those classrooms, and it made it very hard for people like me who actually wanted to learn. Looking back, it sometimes felt like honors and AP classes actually serve two purposes: academic challenge, but also separating students who want to focus from classrooms where behavior issues are more common. At the same time, I also understand that there are students in AP or honors classes who may not actually want to be there. Some might feel pressured by parents, peers, or even educators who push the idea that you won’t be successful unless you take AP classes. So I know honors tracks aren’t a perfect solution either. But it does make me wonder if tracking systems unintentionally become the only way for well-behaved students to get a calmer learning environment. For teachers or people working in education do you see this happening in practice? And are there better ways schools could handle disruptive behavior so that students who want to learn aren’t stuck in environments where teaching becomes almost impossible?