China shows off a Tibetan boarding school that's part of a system some see as forced assimilation

SHANGRI-LA TOWN, China (AP) — First-grade students, hands folded on their desks, watch a teacher write a brush-like stroke on a blackboard in their Tibetan alphabet. Outside, craggy mountains climb toward the brightest of blue skies. The air is clean and crisp at 2,800 meters (9,100 feet), if a bit thin.

The Shangri-La Key Boarding School is an example of bilingual education, Chinese-style. Tibetan activists have a different term for it: forced assimilation. The issue is getting official attention this year, with U.N. human rights experts and representatives from the U.S. and a handful of othe...