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Alpha Stage
What's an Agreement
February 13, 2007










The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "North Korea
Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament."

The article begins, "In a landmark international accord, North Korea
promised Tuesday to close down and seal its lone nuclear reactor
within 60 days in return for 50,000 tons of fuel oil as a first step in
abandoning all nuclear weapons and research programs."

Despite the promise of a nuclear free Korean peninsula, the article
articulates that past agreements have been ignored.
Read a Similar Article!

Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

  • Ask your students what it means to agree to do something?
    What have they agreed to do recently?
  • Consider asking students to either write a short story
    about a time in which they agreed to do something or
    draw a picture about a time that they agreed to do
    something? What kinds of agreements has your class
    made as a whole?

  • Do your students think it's important to do what they've agreed
    to do? Why/why not?
  • Consider developing a list of reasons as to why it's
    important to do what one's agreed to do.

  • Ask your students how they would feel about somebody who
    never did what they agreed to do. Why would they feel this
    way?
  • Consider developing a list of adjectives with your
    students. In addition to describing somebody who does
    not adhere to their agreements, describe somebody who
    does adhere to them.

  • Do your students think that stores in your town have to work
    out agreements with one another? What do stores have to agree
    upon? Do stores have to make agreements with the people who
    shop in them? What kinds of agreements?
  • Consider inviting in a store owner to discuss the types
    of agreements that he/she makes when it comes to
    running a store.

  • What do your students think would happen if everybody
    stopped doing what they agreed to do? Why do they think this?
  • Students could create skits in which they demonstrate
    what they think would happen if people did not live up
    to their agreements.


Discussion-Starters for Older Children

  • Vocabulary Terms to Discuss: Reaffirm; Denuclearization;
    Obliged; and, Concession.

  • Pose: Imagine that President Bush asked you for advice, he
    wants to know if the agreement discussed in this article should
    be trusted. What would you say? Why? Explain the rationale
    for your specific answer.
  • Students could respond to this question in groups of
    two or three. If you really want to make this a
    challenge, tell students that they must somehow refer to
    statistics and/or probability in their answers.

  • What does the word "trust" mean? How does one gain the trust
    of others? How does one lose the trust of others? What does it
    mean to be "trustworthy?"
  • Consider asking students to develop a graphic image in
    response to these questions.

  • According to the article, North Korean leader will ultimately
    have to decide if he is willing to give up nuclear weapons, and
    the advantages and prestige that nuclear weapons bring to his
    regime, in exchange for increased humanitarian assistance and
    trade opportunities. Tell your students to imagine that Kim
    turned to them for advice. Would they advise him to give up
    nuclear weapons? Why/why not?
  • These questions might make for an interesting class
    discussion. Encourage students to think about the issue
    from Kim's perspective. You might also encourage them
    to think about the issue from as un-biased perspective as
    possible, perhaps the perspective of a being from Mars.
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