investment relationships, including the concerns of american companies, and our commitment to privacy and basic liberties. >> but critics of the data collection including kentucky senator rand paul say these recommendations on how the security works. and dodge some of the state. >> he's going to continue to collect all of my private information without a warrant. it's not about who holds it. >> for more i'm joined from

washington, d.c. by former deputy director of the cia john mclaughlin. he is now a professional of intelligence and foreign policy at johns hopkins university. great to have you with us, john. first let's get your reaction to the president's speech. you have staunchly defended the nsa and the program. you were at the cia after the 9/11 attacks. what did you think the president said? >> well i think the president did a good job of lailg out for the public the role of intelligence in our national security system and i think he also did a good job of defending the nsa and americaing clear that other countries have intelligence programs like this. now, when he comes to the actual recommendations that he made i think the phrases that came to mind for me are the devil is rail in the details here. and also, wait and see. because when you look at the

metadata program which has been probably the most controversial, what i heard him say was: we're going to transition this to a different system in which that data will be held by someone other than the u.s. government. he noted that's going to be complicated, that's not simple. if you put it in the hands of the phone companies they all have different systems for collecting the data. if you put it in hands of someone else kim i'm not -- else, i'm not sure who that would be. i can't think off the top of my head of another group or another entity that would be safer and more assuring of privacy than the nsa itself. it's very careful how it uses the this data. >> he pretty much suggested the following, there be judicial approval to dip into records and store that metadata outside the government. wanted to add an independent voice

at the fisa court. and some friendly relief for spying outside the utle. again the big question is this a big deal? the reality is at&t would keep those records for five to seven years. the different phone companies all had different time frames data. if the government could access from those phone companies or third party storage facilities in the end does it make any difference to ordinary americans? >> in this sense if you put it in a system that adds time or process to the period when nsa has to react to a lead or deal with a crisis, you're increasing the risk that we will miss something or not handle it appropriately. so i think that's one risk. another risk is simply that i don't know how secure another entity or the phone companies would be, when it comes to protecting data like that. i mean i have an unlisted number

but i gel get 12 robo calls a day. we have trouble target being hacked. having it kept by nsa is about the most secure way you can store this data. >> talking about the quickness with which the nsa could access this information, you were there during 9/11 and in fact the president mentioned in his speech that there was one phone call back then from one of the 9/11 hijackers that if the cia could have access to figure out that guy was in the united states it could have made a difference. is that fair? >> it was a critical phone number in yes yemen and we knewa bad guy had talked on that number, had made a phone call on that number. we had no authority to bounce that phone number off a data bank in the united states. in fact he was in the united states. had we been able to use a program like this i suspect we

would have been able to map to some degree the network of supporters and contacts that the hijackers had in the united states. i think the president is thinking not so much about the past as about the future. al qaeda is in some ways becoming more robust, it's rejuvenating, it has a larger area for safe haven than in a decade. i'm sure the president is mindful that this threat has not only gone away, it may be in the outyears as severe as in the pre-9/11 period. i don't think he wants to give up any tools that would help us combat that. >> the president seemed to say actually at one point he said as these disclosures have come out they've shed more heat than light and that while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact outcomes that we

may not understand for years to come. one of the contributors to the guardian have said they really haven't let howt ni out any met. what's the truth? >> we have all sorts of public statements including an annual statement by the director of national intelligence that lays out our conception of the threats and the concerns in the world. no other country does that. these leaks have been damaging. most of them let me say all of them have been leaks that have not exposed abuse or illegality. i think the president pointed that out. they have detailed intelligence methods for one reason or another are kind of fascinating to the average readers, the reared of newspapers, and in that sense, when the president says we won't know the damage for years what he means that adversaries will study this, they will go to school on it.

we don't know yet about what they will conclude about how to secure their communications and avoid our scrutiny and our attempts to penetrate plots particularly by terrorists but also by others who mean ill to us. so you know, we use the word transparency a lot but in order for intelligence to be intelligence on the one hand it has to have public support and therefore there is a certain amount of transparency required. but there is also a certain amount of secrecy required. as other countries in the world as the president pointed out very well, aren't doing the things we're doing to put their systems out there. >> interestingly, critics are going at the president from the left and the right. he did not take many or most of the recommendations that he had received from the panel that he named to study this. >> well look, the intelligence community is pretty accustomed to being examined and investigated.

that is part of our robust system of oversight. so i think they will take this all in stride. they will do their best to respond to what the president's asked them to do which in this case is to think about a different method for storing this data. many of them may say it's going to make our job a little harder, it's going to add some process here. but i think their attitude may be very much like the response i had to the speech which was: interesting, devil's in the details, let's wait and see. >> well, we'll wait and see and former cia acting director john mclaughlin, thank you for joining us to discuss this important topic. thank you. >> from a different perspective, he is of course the famed whistle blower who in 1971 leaked to reporters the top

secret documents dubbed the pentagon papers, outlining the u.s. military's role in vietnam. great to have you on the show today. julian asange said he had to be kicking and screaming dragged, a pr effort to mollify the public. what is your reaction? >> well, i heard the president say that he was certain that this debate would strengthen us. and neglected to say thank you, edward snowden. maybe that was on his television prompter and he choked up when he said it. he did say earlier about mr. snowden who has joined our board of directors, that he deplored the sensational way that this information, which has led to all these proposals for reform, including his, and various legislative proposals,

now pending in congress, he hated the way that was made. well, what exactly other way might that have come to his attention or to our attention? there was no other way. he's talked about his whistle blower protection act which didn't go into effect until after snowden had actually made his disclosures. but he neglected to, maybe he didn't know that that didn't cover snowden as a contractor. anyway, the four nsa officials who have been saying for years that the nsa was acting unconstitutionally, in this dragnet surveillance that they were carrying on were defying the fourth amendment had said openly that they thought snowden did the right thing and they did the wrong thing by acting through the channels that the president had spoken of. they were simply persecuted in a variety of ways, one of them prosecuted, others held at gunpoint on suspicion. and a sorry sight.

they said the only way this could have come to our attention is for a courageous person like mr. snowden who had access to this information to tell it without authorization because no head of nsa was ever going to authorize the information as to how long and how greatly this institution has been violating our constitution and the rights of all our citizens. >> i want to get to edward snowden in a moment. but first there has been argument about whether it's constitutional or not, different judges have decided in different ways and the nsa panel named by the president said that they hadn't found any illegality or abuse. what reforms did you say -- >> by the way if i could say that was a rather absurd statement by the president that there was no evidence of illegality or abuse. the fisa judges, described tens of thousands of violations and

abuses, they went so far as one judge pit that the restraint might as well not have existed at all. they were simply ignoring it. he's simply not telling the found. >> what is the worst abuse in your opinion? >> i think -- i'm sure the worst has not yet come out as a matter of fact. it's bad enough to be taking the metadata of practically everyone in the world which, by the way, could be stored fairly easily, they wouldn't need to store all that digital data in bluffdale in the new storage facility they're building as russell tise has pointed out a former nsa whistle blower has been saying for years now that the has been lying and is lying now when they say they collect only metadata as obtrusive as it is. they are collecting content not of everyone, that's too hard to store.

but you'd awd audio of persons, congress persons, even supreme court justices, tise himself was involved in such collection and he knows that it's going on right now. what has yet to come out are a, the fact that they are in fact taking a lot of content not all of it of our audio. it was revealed yesterday that they are taking in hundreds of millions of text that's not all data. >> from foreign sources. >> and what we haven't found is the kind of abuses that that sort of collection is certain to give rise to and i feel it already has given rise to. >> the text messages supposedly are only from foreign sources not from u.s. sources and again there is no confirmation that they are gathering all that content.

so if it is only metadata which are is the only information that has been confirmed at this point, why, if it's available through the phone companies and other ways and stored, so why should americans care? >> if it's available from the telephone companies as it's turning out to the government directly that is indeed something to be very concerned about. the assumption was by the companies that they've assured us that they were keeping that quite privately and they are concerned about encrypting that information so as to offer that privacy to their customers which they cajt yet. but even -- cant yet. even if they, not to smear dissenters as hoover was doing. not to manipulate kat activist groups. to attack to persecute, to assassinate, so the danger of

having that in government hands is i would say much, much greater than have it in corporate hands unless having it in corporate hands means giving it to the government in which case -- >> if they didn't give it to the government they would have fairly easy access to it. edward snowden, you have defended him today, from the beginning. here is what the president has to say. >> i'm not going to dwell on mr. snowden's actions or motivations. if any individual can object to the government's actions and take it within himself to reveal classified information, we can't protect foreign policy. moreover the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out have more often shed more heat than light. in ways that we may not fully

understand for years to come. >> former acting director o -- mc [ laughter ] li, what are your response to his statements? and to the president? >> maybe it's true, maybe his judgment is right. he hasn't told us any specifics nor has anyone else. maybe we shouldn't expect that after all it's all secret right? except those exact same things were said about me by the president and the vice president and other people like mclaughlin and they were said by chelsea manning. and not one specific was ever brought up validating those concerns about processes being broken or not. i think we circulate take this with a great deal of skepticism. mr. snowden has found the only way that that information could have gotten to the public or to president obama as far as we can tell through channels. he's said to have been surprised

that his people were listening in to angela merkel. maybe that is true and maybe it isn't true. i would trust edward snowden's judgment, not that he's perfect, maybe he has made mistakes. i trust him more than james clapper or keith alexander or dianne feinstein, about what the public should know about these situations, there is no way we would find that about any other way other than through a snowden and i hope there are others waiting to tell us about abuses. but there is a better way to find out this material than to have leakers take their lives into their hands or face a life at best of compile or like chelsea manning, prison, looking to genuine investigation of the intelligence community, better church managed to do it.

intelligence committees failed to provide oversight. church led to the fisa intelligence court. that has failed, has been a rubber stamp operating in secret. what we have to have is kirk leavy of the nsa has said, a panel picked by congress reporting to the congress and the judiciary and the nsa with full access and full clearances. people who have never been hired by the intelligence community in the past. we need in other words genuine oversight for the first time in a way the nsa has never had it, within or outside the executive branch. >> but still you would trust the judgment of a 29-year-old contractor over senators, the president of the united states, the oversight from congressional committees that already exist and intelligence officials? >> pardon me. the president's own committee which had the judgment that they expressed not only to the

president, but to congress just two days ago, these included the former chief of counterterrorism in the white house, richard clark. morel the former head of the cia. another person who was actually the one who hired -- jeffrey stone who hired obama as a law professor back at chicago. his judgment was that we should end the bulk collection. he overruled that collection because i believe he has been corrupted by his office right now, not because his judgment was worse. i think edward snowden is the one person -- >> taking action because he needs to protect the country? >> i think he needs to reassure the people that have now gotten information that he refused to give them, in fact he may not have known in detail. i don't think the nsa has been terribly forthcoming for all we know to the president about whether they broke the law.

it took fisa court judges, in their ability, they do not have the technical ability to investigate that i have said here about kurt leavy's recommendations. is it shocking that a 29-year-old to take his life in his hands to tell us this, not really, that's the way humanity works, that's the way governments work. knowledge is power. secret knowledge of other people's secrets is power. and power corrupts. even americans. >> this debate will continue for a long time, daniel elsburg, i really appreciate you joining us on the show tonight. >> thank you for opportunity. why did a execution in ohio drag on for 25 minutes and did the increased infliction of pain constitute cruel and unusual punishment. what's trending

hermella? >> surgeon general's report on smoking shows we've come a long way since 1964. i'li've got the comments coming are up. >> every sunday night join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... >> parkinson's forced his wife to type his novels. >> not only was i typing badly, but i was hallucinating... >> now, a revolutionary proceedure is giving is giving this best selling author a second chance >> it was a wondrerful moment... >> after the implant, they turned the juice on, and... >> emily & martin cruz smith on talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america

he's been vice president for almost a year and belongs to one

>> an ohio execution has raised new questions on whether untried drug cocktails used in lethal injections are causing unacceptable suffering. chemical compounds that have been used for lethal injections have become scarce in many states since european companies stopped selling them for that purpose.

a pregnant 22-year-old woman named joyce stewart. state executives used a drif tifs that had never been used before. ohio prison supervisor gary johnson said he didn't believe, described the scene. >> he gasped deeply kind of a rattling guttural sound there was a snorting through his nose. couple times he definitely appeared to be choking. i'd never seen anything that lasted so long and the shuddering gasping was so pronounced. >> for more i'm joined from cleveland by john paul ryan, the mcguire family attorney, and also part of the ohio association of criminal lawyers. and dr. bruce bailey, associate

adjunct instructor at the state police academy and a former corrections and deputy juvenile probation officer. great to have you both with us. i know john you have been contacted by the mcguire family to file a lawsuit. the mcguire family has described what happened to mcguire as torture. what do they want you to do? >> as son and daughter were driving home from the execution after they saw it they called me immediately. they said something needs to be done. the son promised his father that if he was tortured that he promised his father that nobody else had to go through that same type of torture. he called us to make sure that no other individual in the state of ohio or the united states suffered the same fate as dennis did. >> dr. bailey you were a corrections professional. what did you first think when you heard about the execution? >> it's unfortunate that the execution took as long as it did.

remember the corrections professionals are hardworking honorable people, doing a difficult job under stressful conditions. no one wants to torture an inmate especially during the execution. when i first heard about this my thought was: there was an issue with the pharmaceuticals and the medical profession. it appears the professionals did their job but the pharmaceuticals did not. >> john what about this? these new drugs that were used, the first question is should they be experimenting in the death penalty chamber? >> absolutely not. death penalty chamber is not a place for experiments. they were experts on the defense team that wrote -- testified in court, they had opinions that they published that stated that this would be the exact result that would happen if these drugs were administered in this way. they told the judge under oath

that this is what would happen. and in fact this is what happened. and so, the state was on notice that there could be some significant problem with this compound. nd yet they assured the court, they assured the state of ohio, the people of the state of ohio, that this would not be a problem. here we are it is disturbing it's caused great trauma, not only for the family, for the friends, a lot of people in the state of ohio and in the united states. >> but bruce on the other hand the assistant attorney general of ohio has said that people are not entitled to pain free executions. and kent shidiger, said after mcguire's execution that the main point to be emphasized is that the inmate does get a sedative as the very first thing. however distasteful it is to observe he is not in any extreme pain that ought to concern us. your response to that?

>> corrections again does not want to torture during the execution. that's not their job. their job is to carry out the orders of the court. and so no one i know of in corrections wants somebody to suffer. that's not point. that's retribution. corrections job is to punish to hold the person accountable by court. i don't know of any corrections potential that wants to torture somebody. >> but some states still allow the electric chair which is clearly more painful than what seems to have happened here. one question i've had, i've had medical procedures where i'm administered propofol, and you're asleep before the drug takes effect. that is billion infamous because of michael jackson's death. >> the former director of the ohio department of corrections

has spoken out against this execution not on the part of the family but on the part of the people that work in the department of corrections. he feels that ohio should not any longer be in the business of executions because of the effect that something like this has on the employees of the institution. but to your next point, you know, it's a continuum. there's a part in the constitution where some infliction of pain and minimal amount could be justified under the constitution. but in this case we had multiple witnesses that saw dennis clinching his fist, gasping for air, trying to get up, reeling in the chair. there's a lot of indications that this was not an unconscious person. we have an individual that was actually conscious, during this procedure, for at least 19 minutes. and if that occurred, i don't think that there's any person

that would say that that's a constitutional act on the part of the state. and that's why we're filing this motion. >> not to get into a debate over the death penalty or not. but the family of the victim has said that the woman he killed was a newlywed who was pregnant, she was raped and murdered and they said that the suffering that mr. mcguire may have had is nothing compared to what their family member suffered. bruce your reaction on that? >> on that point we agree completely. i agree with the family that suffering, cruelty is wrong. nobody should suffer. and the point that they make is that their daughter suffered in a terrible way. and i agree, and sympathize completely. the only point that we have to make is the state of ohio should not mimic the behaviors that they are condemning and dennis though he was a condemned kill are has the same i think the

moral principle that we're not to cruelly treat people applies to all individuals in the united states. i think that's our point. >> all right, john paul ryan, dr. bruce bailey, we have to leave it there. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> what's trending now, hermella. >> a new report from the surgeon general say we've come a long way since 50 years ago detailing the hazards of smoking. today the number of smokers is down to 18%. the report credits the decline to public health efforts such as banning smoking indoors and banning tv ads on tv. surgeon general says we've got a long way to go. >> today the annual death toll from smoking is approaching 500,000 per year. enough is enough.

>> a key finding in the report is that cardiovascular disease actually kills more smokers over the age of 35 than young cancer. now to your reaction. viewer sarah says we have seen that warnings of harmful behavior affecting long term health is a deterrent for everyone. sarah says, we have a long way to go? why can't the government trend against e-cigarettes. you can learn more at aljazeera.com/considerthis. consider more studies need to be done to weigh the risks and benefits. >> we'll see what happens with e-cigarettes. thanks hermella. straight ahead is it safe to wear google glass while driving? and later on, high school is

hard enough, imagine assimilating into another culture, at the same time. >> i'm phil torres, coming up this week on techknow... >> a mystery, deep in the heart of the rain forrest >> we haven't seen something actually build them... >> it's been really frustrating >> it's a spidery clue that has our team of scientests stumped... join our journey to peru... then, it looks like chicken, tastes like chicken, >> that's good.... >> but it's not... the foamy inovation that's making hardcore meat eaters happy. >> techknow on al jazeera america

>> if you can't text or talk on

the phone while driving, should you be allowed to drive while wearing google glass? cecilia was cited for driving while wearing the google glass. the court found her not guilty, because they continue prove the device was on. what does this mean for it and other emerging technologies. cecilia joins me from san diego. she is a google glass explorer. one of the 30,000 that was enlisted to test the device. cecilia thank you for joining us. you were pulled over for speeding. what happened after that? >> after he detected the speeding he did notice that i was wearing google glass and he wrote in the citation as well that i was an infraction of wearing a monitor visible to the driver. >> right, you said in court then that your google glass was in

sleep mode and you really weren't watching anything. why were you wearing it to begin with? >> so it's a little tricky, let me explain to you. i wear this all day long, 12 plus hours a day this is what i do. i'm becoming like a cyborg. once you have it on, it is on stand by the same as your cell phone is but you are not necessarily interacting with it. that is what they call in the law, imperative. they could not prove, that did not happen in that situation, it was not operative at the time. it was a stand by, it whereas there in case i needed it. >> doesn't it make sense for the law not to be looking at a screen even though it's on the glasses? >> i understand the general public is having that important question in their mind. this is not designed for you to

watch moifs o -- movies or tv. it's designed for microinteractions. hands free actions, that's interesting while you are driving. >> your observation excelled some reactions. hermella. >> is this what it looks like when you're wearing the device or does it cause you any problems with the peripheral vision? >> that's called a vignette. it is not exactly what i'm seeing but it's made by the software when i take a picture. spot. when you are watching you are seeing everything because you have two yietion and your -- two eyes and your peripheral vision is not impaired at all. >> would it distract you if the device was on?

>> there is a way to be distracted by everything else, anything in the car condition tracting, your kids in the back. but in reality this is a device that could help the problem of cell phones in car because it is a hands-free device. >> so you think it actually would be better than using a hands-free cell phone or gps device while driving? >> it is in a very good position for you to just glance at it and to mark microinteractions. if you are even looking at navigation in your google glass you just see your next turn. you just do this and do a little there. it is different than why using a cell phone. >> explorers should always use their systems responsibly. have they been in contact with you?

>> i wouldn't imply that they are not happy. what it means i completely completely agree. all of us explorers in the street try to be responsible with the device and that makes total sense. >> you have said that this needs to be tested, figure out whether this should be done or not. >> yeah, i believe all of that should be nigd out in the most scientific way possible but at the same time, the experience right now of thousands of friends and people that are called explorers, is very, very positive. like they really feel like they're save with google glass and that's why they had all that support on the network. >> specific what kind of response have you received from the online community and other google glass explorers? >> there's a big divide in the response that i got, there are people who were informed and did try, huge glap.

if you try google glass you are going to be one side and probably 99% of the explorers are going to be agreeing that it is safer than the cell phone in the car. on the other hand you have other people who have never tried it and are very concerned. >> what do you say about this is the ever. >> this is bringing a big issue. >> and how many do you think this will change the way we live? you gave a ted talk recently about this. >> i think this is a very beginning of a whole new era of devices that will extend us and connect us and almight augment us. >> how much of a difference has it made to your life? >> well for one thing, i usually never take my cell phone out to take a picture, that's for one and i love all the voice. voice became such a natural

interface for me to have with my technology that now it is kind of annoying to have to be typing and doing these type of things. but other than that it's been an amazing experience connecting to other explorers and people on the planet. >> you can do all that stuff through your glasses. it's incredible. cecilia, appreciate you joining us and we're glad the traffic court let you out. >> thank you. >> straight ahead, what does your ethnic heritage play in your weight? the surprising mix next in data dive. the incredible experience of emigrating to the united states while also trying to make your >> every sunday night aljazeera america presents gripping films from the worlds top documetary directors. >> everybody's different here... >> for students at the esteemed international high school at lafayette everyday is a fight to suceeed >> it was my dream to get a high school diploma >> but a failing grade can mean

loosing it all... >> i don't know how my life would look, if i would get deported... >> will they make it in america? >> i have a chance... >> i learn america

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>> today's data dive tackles the ethnicity of overweight americans. body mass index of more than 25. if your bmi a measurement involving height and weight is higher than that you're considered overweight. only 38.6 of asian americans have a b mi higher than that. whites have more than that, 66.7%. african americans, and latinas if merely four out of five are overweight. the cdc sissess they are just as likely as whites to have high blood pressure. all four ethnic groups, being

overweight often coincides with type 2 diabetes. latinas are not only the most heavy in the new study they also have nearly double the type 2 diabetes than whites have, 13.2% to 7.6. as of 2006 diabetes was the fifth leading cause of death for hispanics and african americans compared to the seventh major cause of death for nonhispanic whites. all the more reason to get out for some exercise this weekend. coming up a look at america's immigration process from the perspective of teens who have come from around the world and struggled to assimilate.

>> high school's an awkward time for any teen, but for those emigrating to the united states, it's even more difficult. follows a group of students at the international high school in lafayette in brooklyn, new york. it documents their struggles and successes.

>> they are the american dream. >> the options are to either nurture and support and educate them, or not. >> it was not a choice for us to come here. that's something our parents choose. they already chose a boy for me. all the normal angsty stuff, figuring out who you are, what right and wrong is, in addition to adjusting to a totally new culture, it's insane. >> they are here in the studio with us. such an important story to tell. it's great to have you both here. i got to say i lived the story as a young child and as a younger child. i came to america, and not speaking english, and then moved to south america speaking spanish. i can relate.

one in four are either an immigrant or born to an immigrant paint. how important are these schools jean michel? >> school is a very important place for those kids. now, what did we -- how important, they are important, what kind of welcoming school do we want is really kind of the question of the film. there is a change in america that's taking place, a demographic change taking place in america where in many places around the country, the newcomers are becoming -- there is an influx of newcomers. and what happened to them when they arrive here? >> and gitta, this particular school has 300 kids, they speak two dozen languages, they're

from 50 countries. the question is if these international schools are so important how many are there out there? >> right now there are 18 schools. >> throughout the united states? >> throughout the united states, that are part of the network for public schools and they are still expanding. i think there will be maybe 19 next year which isn't enough for need out there. >> you're talking about millions of kids. >> right, exactly. >> how big a difference is these kids coming into the international school as opposed to a regular american school, because there's been the argument that full immersion into an american school is the way to go. >> people are finding that the children who come to this country especially as teenagers only have -- they only have in most places four years to graduate. to -- and to be prepared for college or work. these schools prepare them to do that. in a way that other regular

public schools don't. not because they don't care, but because they don't necessarily have the resources or the knowledge about how to do this. >> and you really see in the documentary just how patient some of the teachers are in getting through to the kids. there really are unique challenges. >> yeah, definitely. i mean, the students, many of them come having been separated from their families for a decade, or they come here without their families, maybe they didn't finish school in their countries and were refugees, maybe they weren't -- had never been in a classroom setting like this before. but they're also dealing with a lot of social emotional issues atop from being teenagers, aside from the adolescent angst. >> and them not spiek speaking the language -- speaking the language very well. bullying has become quite a topic over the last couple of

years. given the incredible diversity where everybody is an outlier, are there normal cliques of the jocks and the in other words, or -- nerds or do they connect based on their cultural heritage? >> it's a very safe school. you don't find the clique like you would in other high schools. what you are finding is a place where kids are coming from everywhere. a kid next to a kid from haiti, next to a kid from china. trying to learn a new language and in some way they are going through same experience, that experience of in its new place. >> which connects it all. one of the kids who is a big character in the story, a guy

from myanmar, his language was burmese. he was the only one who spoke burmese. he didn't have a lot of people to help him out. there is a moment in the movie involving a girl from pakistan teacher. >> i don't think i'll have a professional job because of course i think first as a culture and religion husband have to pay for everything. as i see my future my family had planned something for me and i don't think that maybe the alternative will come -- is not letting me work. >> you know i have to say i'm a little disappointed to hear you say that. >> like sometimes we as a family -- >> hold on a second because i want you to really think about this, you have your own life to live and own choices to make, your own culture definitely. but one of the things we had to

show you, there are a lot of people who had to fight for the rights they have. wherever you choose to be, it is up to you to decide what your rights are to look for them and to sometimes fight for them. >> there's a very sensitive balance between respecting the culture that kids come from and then steering them to be able to adapt to america and to understand our culture. >> right, right, this teacher, ms cassandra they call her is one of the really amazing teachers at the international schools because what she understands and what she and ichrad are talking about here, they have an open dialogue, ishrad is aa remarkable young woman who embraces both cultures. she is a strong muslim woman who is living in america and wants to go to college. and the teachers understand that and are willing and able to have this kind of discussion with her

in a way that helps her think about the choices that she has in front of her. >> are the teachers trained specifically to know how to straddle both cultures in the way they deal with the children? >> i think they're humble enough to recognize how much of a privilege, it is to work with the students. i think we chose to film at the school when we heard the teachers say, we learn more from our student than they probably learn from us. and they recognize that students coming in this country bring so much and ultimately i think that specific spot that you showed, you know, showed that the teacher is about to enter into a dialogue with the student. >> right. >> because she is respectful enough of a culture, she knows enough about the culture that she can also bring her other point of views but yes -- >> i want to ask you a final question. you're an education reform expert, you work for the

bloomberg administration here in new york, financially do these schools make sense to create these international schools which are pretty much stand-alone for a specific population? >> they do, because you know the cost of educating, not educating these kids properly is much greater than what it will cost to educate the kids in the way they need to be educated. the resources that we devote to new grants and english language learners in this country will pay off in the long run hugely. >> it is a pleasure to have you here, and it will air on al jazeera america at 8:00 eastern. the show may be over but the conversation continues. @ajconsiderthis we'll see you next time.

>> hello, and welcome to the news hour. i'm stephen cole in doha. syria's recognizel recognized on has days to decide to attend peace talks. in south so yo sudan, we'ree juba. >> we have news from europe, including claims in the u.k. that some minority are shutting out of