Hilarious - there was a study done back in the sixties about how kids would perform better if they were told they were part of the “superior” group.
This held true, even with the same sample set of kids, when the “teacher” came back and switched which group was “superior”.
Well don’t forget that you have kids of different skin colors and even same skin color but different economic backgrounds who say “don’t act white” or “don’t be a prep/brain”.
Those peers who hold their “friends” back aren’t friends at all. They are losers who don’t want to be left behind. They drag others down to be their “equal”.