A Tear

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "The Show of Emotion Heard 'Round the Presidential Campaign World." The article states, "...Mrs. Clinton has meted out her inner life one teaspoon at a time: a suggestive line in an interview here, an intriguingly hearty laugh there...So on Monday, when she choked up during an appearance at a New Hampshire coffee shop, making a nakedly emotional plea for her candidacy, Mrs. Clinton prompted one of the most fiercely debated moments of the presidential campaign to date." "“This is exactly the problem I feared any female candidate would have: In order to succeed you need to come across as tougher than your male opponents,” Petra Boehm, 43, wrote on nytimes.com."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Do your students like to laugh? Why/why not? What do your students think is the funniest thing they have ever seen or heard? Would students prefer to laugh or cry? Why?
  
• Ask your students to think of a time they cried. Why did they cry? Have they ever cried even if they did not get hurt? Why did they cry? Is it bad to cry? Why/why not?
  
• Invite your students to think of a time when they were very tired. Why were they so tired? Can your students think of any reasons why it might be hard for some people to go to sleep? Urge them to explain!
  
• Is the principal in your school a man or a woman? Do students think that it would be OK for the principal to be the opposite gender? Why/why not? In what ways do your students think that a male principal might be different than a female principal?
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Steely; Audacity; "Nakedly Emotional Plea"; and, Reams.
  
• In what ways do your students think that men and women are different? In what ways are they alike? Ask students to respond to the following statement: "The typical woman leader leads differently than the typical male leader." Encourage them to explain their thoughts.
  
• Challenge students to imagine that they had been in the same room as Senator Clinton when she showed some emotion. If they could have said one thing to her what would they have said? Why would they have said this?
  
• What do students think that the word "emotion" means? Do students think that it's appropriate for people to wear their emotions on their sleeves? Why/why not? If students could write a book of etiquette when would they suggest that it is acceptable to show emotion and when is it unacceptable?