Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra feature stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write a 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: Toy Recall Impacts How U.S. Companies Do Business in China, 08/22/07
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec07/toys_8-22.html

Initiating Questions:

1. What is a recall?

2. Where are most toys made?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1. Why is Mattel toy company in the news right now?

Mattel voluntarily recalled more than 18 million Chinese-made toys earlier this month after the company discovered "impermissible levels of lead paint" and the use of loose magnets that children could swallow. This follows an earlier recall for other toys with lead paint by the company.

2. How has Mattel responded to the recall?

As a result Mattel has said it will increase testing of toys and the materials, especially paint, used to make them.

"We're reaching out to people today and, particularly parents. We've changed our own testing procedures, so we'll be extra vigilant in this area," Robert Eckert, the chairman and chief executive of Mattel, said in a conference call, the New York Times reported.

3. How has the Chinese government responded to the recall?

Chinese government officials responsible for product safety have said that the current criticisms are exaggerated and unfair. They say that in general their toys are safe and that other producers are jealous of their hold on the manufacturing market.

"More than 99 percent of our goods meet standards," Li Changjiang, China's quality watchdog chief, said on state television, Reuters reported. "Demonizing Chinese products, or talking of the Chinese product threat, I think is simply a new kind of trade protectionism."

4. What percentage of toys are manufactured in China? Why?

Over 80 percent of all toys are manufactured in China. The main reason is the Asian country's cheap labor costs allow toy companies to meet retailer and consumer demand for cheap products.

When adjusted for inflation, many of today's toys may be less expensive than toys sold decades ago, even as the price of materials like plastic have increased, according to independent toy industry consultant Chris Byrne.

"We can't have ever-decreasing prices without something eventually being squeezed," Byrne told MSNBC.

5. What role do subcontractors play in this situation?

Part of the challenge for toymakers will be to ensure that the companies they contract with in China are using reputable subcontractors.

"The transparency at the back-end of these operations is hazy," Eric Johnson, professor of operations management at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business who has studied Chinese manufacturing, told MSNBC. "Each layer becomes harder and harder to manage and control."

6. Who might gain something as a result of the recall? Why?

But not all toymakers are on the defensive over the scandal. Some small toy manufacturers in the United States and Europe have seen a windfall since the scandal.

One is Maple Landmark Woodcraft in Middlebury, Vt., which makes wooden toys. Since the recall announcement traffic to the toy maker's Web site has increased dramatically, according to the company.

"We think we're going to be really relevant again," company co-owner Mike Rainville told the Rutland Herald.

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. How important is safety to you when purchasing products like toys? Do you think consumers would be willing to pay more for products to ensure that they are safely produced? Why or why not?

2. How has globalization impacted where the products you buy come from? How do you know where products are made? What are the benefits and drawbacks of globalization?

3. A recently published book, "A Year Without 'Made in China,'" by Sara Bongiorni, tells the story of one American family's attempt to go an entire year without purchasing anything from China. Do you think you could do that? Why or why not? Spend some time examining where the products you use daily come from. What do you notice? How does this impact your view of globalization?

Write a 300-500 word essay on either of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra (extra@newshour.org). Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.