They kind of let us run the whole thing. They had the answers, and that was great. Renton High's Day said he thinks the WTO is an ambiguous topic that is difficult enough to understand for adults, let alone students. Teachers need to explain that it's more than money and politics, he said. Teachers who are incorporating the WTO into classroom discussions agree it's controversial, but also a great way to localize a global debate.
Teachers say the difficulty is making sure that the lessons are fair.
He said workers are underpaid and often required to put in 12 or 16 hours a day, using dangerous equipment and breathing toxic fumes. He said the WTO enforces rules that countries must accept products from those companies, but it doesn't require companies to improve their working conditions or use environmentally safe practices. We just want a different kind of trade, with a different set of rules. It's outrageous. . . .