The crux of the questions revolves not around "in the class," but around "any student/any students." That's why I showed it in brackets. If it makes you feel better, go ahead and include it, but not doing so does not change the thrust of the question one iota. In case you forgot, the United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language. And, yes, you're right, we Americans do tend to separate the wheat from the chaff.
"If it makes you feel better, go ahead and include it,"
THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY SENSIBILITIES, and all to do with what you, in a cavalier fashion, term 'chaff': sentence MEANING.
I wrote: " It appears that my belief, that Americans are apparently happy to play free and easy with the actual MEANING of what passes for communication."