As the gallery of parents watched eagerly, the students running the five hundred-meter (550 yard) race swept into view. The gazelles were in front, the children who always won, powerful legs churning. Then came the main group of students, bunched together. They tried to keep up with the person next to them, or even hoped to pass the one in front of them…while dreading being passed by the one behind them. About fifty meters behind them came a boy, face flushed, arms pumping,…