The GENERAL CONTEXT of such use is:
a full account of the selection process: to give a full account of the academic and social selection process, which takes place either within the educational system or by reference to the system, we must take into account not only the explicit judgements of the academic tribunal, but also the convictions by default or suspended sentences which the working classes inflict upon themselves by eliminating themselves from the outset or by condemning themselves to eventual elimination when they enter the branches of education which carry the poorest chances of escaping a negative verdict on examination.