The auditorium of the Shenke Institute Affiliated Primary School.
Several hundred children, aged 6 to 14, were gathered here.
Although the age gap was large, they were divided into three grades not by age, but by academic level.
The first grade was for those who knew nothing. The second grade was for those who could recognize a few words and count. The third grade was for those with a vocabulary large enough to puzzle their way through a comic book and who also knew addition and subtraction.
For the local children, the third grade was the pinnacle of academic achievement.
There were also a few children who had mastered "high-end techniques" like multiplication and division, but because their numbers were so small, they were also placed in the third grade.
Only starting with the next cohort would the school be able to enroll students into grades based on age.
Although the quality of the student body was far from satisfactory, the curriculum was anything but simple.
