Hi Reb,
I had exactly the same situation a few years back I went back to college part time as a mature(ish) student to do a web design course and with a couple of exceptions the class was made up of idiots and time wasters.
Here in the UK you can leave school with no qualifications at 16 years old and our wonderful government then pays you a grant to go to college, the result being all the numskulls and arse holes who have spent there whole school life arseing about then go to college and do the exact same thing thereby messing it up for those who genuinely want to learn.
I know you are doing a dental hygiene course, does the course require any qualifications to get on it or is it like the UK where you can just waltz in straight from school ?

Cheers

NCM