China Angry

The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "China Angered at U.S. Reception to Dalai Lama." The article begins, "China expressed outrage Tuesday at the honors being accorded the Dalai Lama in Washington, warning that the unprecedented embrace by Congress and the White House would harm U.S.-Chinese relations." The article reports, "The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Laureate based in Dharamsala, India, is scheduled to meet privately with President Bush at the White House Tuesday and receive a Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday in recognition for his years of struggle against Chinese rule. Bush himself will present the medal, marking the first time a sitting U.S. president has met in public with the Tibetan spiritual and political leader. The Dalai Lama will make a public address Wednesday afternoon on the West Lawn of the Capitol; thousands of Buddhists from around the world, and other admirers, are expected to attend."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Have your students ever gotten mad when one of their friends played with somebody whom they did not like? Does it make sense to get mad when this happens? Why/why not? Have your students ever played with somebody who they knew that one of their other friends did not like? Why would they have played with this person?
  
• The class might develop a collaborative list with rules as to when it is OK to play with somebody and when it is not OK to play with somebody. Is it OK to play with somebody who teases a friend? Why/why not? What about somebody who has simply never played with one of your friends? Why/why not?
  
• What do your students think it means to be a leader? Do leaders have to have any special characteristics? What kinds of characteristics? Why do leaders need these characteristics? Would your students like to be leaders? Why/why not?
  
• Consider asking students to develop skits which demonstrate the type of behavior that leaders display.
  
• Have your students ever decided that there were too many people playing with one toy and therefore decided to start playing with another toy? What problems might occur when too many people play with one toy? Would it have been OK if a few other students had chosen to play with this new toy, together? Why/why not?
  
• Students might draw a picture of what it looks like when different groups of children play with different toys.
  
• Do your students think that it would be exciting to receive an award at a school assembly when the entire school was present? Why/why not? Do students think that there is anything a student could do to deserve to receive an award in front of the entire school? What could the student do? Why would this behavior merit such an award?
  
• Ask students to pretend that they are the principal of the school. Why would they decide to honor a student in front of the rest of the school? What would they say as they were honoring the student? Students might deliver short skits.
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: "Accorded"; Autonomy; "Spiritual and Political Leader"; and, Solemnly.
  
• Do your students think that the U.S. government should offer the Dalai Lama the warm reception that it is offering to him? Why/why not? In what ways should the importance of the U.S. relationship with China figure into this decision?
  
• Ask students to imagine that the President of the United States has asked their advice. In groups of two or three, they might develop responses for the President.
  
• Ask your students to respond to the following statement, "Though many people believe that religious leaders deserve greater respect than other people, we need to remember that religious leaders are people too and everybody deserves equal respect." Challenge students to engage one another in discussion. Remember, do not enforce your own views on this discussion.
  
• Students might respond to this prompt in persuasive essays.
  
• What five things would students like to learn about the Dalai Lama. How might they go about procuring this information?
  
• Students might investigate the answers to their questions in groups of three or four.