OH, MYlanta!!!

I need some to get over this heartburn that started yesterday.
My co-op partner and I took our kids to the Safety Train. It was a field trip that had been designed for the public schools, but was open to the public.
Our group was made up of 9 kids all together; a 1 yr old, 2- 3 year olds, a 5 yr old, a 7 yr old, 2- 9 year olds and 2- 12 to 13 yr olds.
We had to fight our way from station to station, I had to push my little ones up through lines, cuz kids were cutting in front of them, we had to guard the little ones as bigger kids zoomed past us and through our group.
This is the first time we have ventured out into a public school function. I must say I am SOOOO glad none of my kids go to those schools that were represented there. There were kids upon kids running this way and that with no chaperon visible. I'm not gonna lie and say our kids were perfectly behaved. But even our wild and crazy three ear olds behaved better than many of the 7-9 yer olds we saw there.
This experience made me think...I've had tons of people ask me if I think my kids are missing out on the social experience and learning social skills the kids in public school do. I can say with assuredly, ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! I do not want my kids learning to be "social" the same way these kids are.
End of rant...
So to make this a discussion...
Have you witnessed kids in public way out of control?
If you are a home schooler, have you ever participated in a public school event? Would you do it again?
For public school parents, have you ever chaperoned a field trip for your child's school? Did you notice the same type of behavior I noted?