It is thought that members of a lower class are often more aware of their status than members of an upper class. They are more conscious of their socioeconomic rank in society. Children in a classroom act in exactly the same way. They individually and rapidly notice what the upper-class kids have that they don't. This is the individual social class awareness.
At first, the direct effects of this social awareness on children are envy and jealousy. "Why can't I have this or that, like him?" they ask themselves. Then, when they realize their parents can't actually afford such expensive items, it creates shame, bitterness and resentment.
Social awareness influences the children's attitudes toward each other. This can create both positive and negative attitudes. The positive attitude results from children of the same social group's coming together and feeling at ease in this group because of their social status equality. The negative attitude, on the other hand, results from differentiation or grouping. This happens when children decide to group themselves according to the class they are aware they belong to.
Groups of different social classes don't mix to play. What had started as individual social class awareness has then become generalized social class awareness, bringing about stereotypes, remarks, tricks, teases and practical jokes about the others' groups and their members.
When adding together the remarks and jokes between groups, the resentment the lower classes' children feel and the arrogance and high standards the higher classes' children show, the result is a time bomb that threatens the harmony of the whole classroom. Despite all the best efforts of the teacher, a fight can suddenly occur between members of the groups for any single tiny reason; usually, insignificant reasons such as a child's smile misinterpreted by another child.
Social class is such a significant factor that it even has an effect on the children's learning and their exam success at school. Children should not be segregated at school because that would certainly create even greater gaps between children of the same school and furthermore between people in general.
To put everything in a nutshell, social class patterns do have a direct effect on pupils' behavior in a classroom. Worse is the fact that the children's behaviors at school are the reflection of their parents' behavior in the bigger society we live in. To avoid this happening, good parenting is essential as well as good parental behavior in society. It certainly is easier to promote than to actually do, but one should never forget that children always copy everything their parents say and do.