We weren't 'taught' to despise those who failed, we imbibed it through hint, gesture and rumour

Every day at primary school we were told who would pass and fail, we were 'placed' in class according to our positions in the tests, 

we were told that the 'other' class would all fail, 

we developed a sub-culture that feared local famous kids we knew as 'dangerous' (on no basis whatsoever), 

we knew that many families had a reward/no reward system (usually a bike) for kids who passed/failed, 

and a hundred other signs and gestures and attitudes and rumours. 

All I have to ask myself is how those of us who passed would typify those who would fail, and a put-on cockney voice comes to mind, and a supposedly 'thick' or 'dumb' way of thinking. 

Ironically for me, at precisely that moment (1957) my dad was teaching dockers' children in Walworth Comprehensive saying how brilliant they were at performing 'Antony and Cleopatra'!!!