I thought her name was Ms. Feeny, or something like that, I don't know...
I'm pretty sure part of it is written intentionally to sharply contrast with how strict and difficult Ratburn's class is... but yeah, they really have no major structure to their education, they really aren't challenged in anyway, more than likely, yeah, they're going to be a mess come Grade 4.
Might you be confusing her with Mrs. Bofini, the substitute who always chewed with her mouth open?
Anyway, what Mr. Ratburn's class is doing isn't very realistic either...in Buster's dream sequence in "
Prunella Sees the Light you see them do stuff with slope (variables m, x, y) and sigmas. I don't think I ever dealt with sigmas until middle/high school. Then again, that's just his imagination.
But seriously, I didn't learn about the Magna Carta until high school...they had to name every country in the world in his class. Seriously, at that learning curve, Mr. Ratburn's class should be in high school.
You're both right about Ms. Fink's class, though; questions like "Can anyone tell me what this is?" (Earth), and homework of enjoying their weekend seem like daycare or something. They'll have a long ways to go in 4th grade.
In short, neither of these classes really represent 3rd grade at all. Then again, so many of show's elements aren't representative of 3rd grader life either.
But to answer your question, CJ, it seems as though, yes Ms. Fink's class lacks a lot of work and discipline. It's just that Mr. Ratburn's class really pushes it, too.