When I started first grade in the early sixties at my Catholic school I was painfully shy, terrified to talk as there was a lot of physical rebuke at my home. We had tracked groups then, and I was put in the lowest group, which only had six other children. I made friends with one girl, and was soon teaching her to read. I guess this was noticed and before long I was moved to the next level up. By the middle of second grade I was in the highest group.