Wealth is not the same as class, either. Even in America. A teacher with an annual salary of $60k is higher class than a plumber making $100k annually. Unless the teacher is black, of course, then racial elements of class come into play.
If they didn't do that to other middle class families then they saw you as less than them. Seeing people as less comes both with charity and contempt, not just one of those.
A teacher is lower upper class though. Teaching is used by some as an early step to a political career — I have a couple of friends who have done so. They don’t have an upper class income, but teachers have the merits to be high class.