captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, another round of elections in store for greece, after tough bailout negotiations, a rebellion in parliament and a majority lost, the new prime minister resigns. >> ifill: then... >> i'll be prepared for anything that comes. >> ifill: president jimmy carter announces his cancer has spread to his brain. >> woodruff: plus, new research raises questions over how we treat early stages of breast cancer. >> ifill: and, don't buy this jacket. clothing retailer patagonia's seemingly counterintuitive message, to consume less and repair clothes so they can live another day. >> we want our customers to invest in great product and when

it's worn out, we want to repair it for them. >> it doesn't sound economical for the company. >> but the way we view it, is that we want to reduce consumption. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: this was wall street's worst day in a year and a half, as the dow jones industrials plunged nearly 360 points. the sell-off was driven by growing turmoil on china's markets, and falling energy prices. it accelerated late in the day, as programmed selling kicked in. in the end, the dow jones industrial average lost 358 points to close below 17,000. the nasdaq fell 140 points, and the s&p 500 dropped 44. the declines on the dow and the

s&p amounted to about 2%. the nasdaq loss was nearly 3%. >> woodruff: wildfires in the western u.s. turned deadly again overnight, killing three firefighters in northern washington state. officials said a hellstorm of flame caught them after their vehicle crashed near the town of twisp. they're the latest of 13 firefighters to die this year. >> these are three big heroes protecting small towns and we are going to remember them and there are seven million washingtonians that today are embracing them and their families and praying for them and hoping for the speedy recovery of our injured. these are people who were lost doing what firefighters do, which is to rush toward the fire rather than away. >> woodruff: hundreds of people poured out of twisp and a neighboring town overnight and today, to escape the flames. >> ifill: the same heat that's fueling wildfires made july the hottest month ever recorded on

earth. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration says that goes back to 1880, when record-keeping began. according to noaa, the average land and sea temperature was 61.86 degrees, a fraction hotter than the old record. and, the span of january through july was also the hottest ever for that seven month period. >> woodruff: community leaders in st. louis appealed for calm today, after the killing of a black teenager sparked new trouble. police say they shot mansur ballbey early yesterday when he pointed a gun during a drug search. hours later, police fired tear gas at protesters and arrested nine people they said were throwing bricks and bottles. today, local clergy appealed to both sides. >> until people take responsibility as to what's going on, this is not going to stop. we can put people up here in front of the camera all we want.

it's not going to stop until there's a great dialogue. and the dialogue is, is that: everyone is at fault. >> woodruff: tensions have been running high since the police killing of michael brown in the st. louis suburb of ferguson, one year ago this month. >> ifill: rising tensions between the two koreas erupted into artillery fire today. the north fired several shells, and the south answered with dozens of rounds of its own. there were no reports of casualties, but scores of people were evacuated from at least one village in the south. they took refuge in underground bunkers. the trouble's been building since land mines in the demilitarized zone wounded two south korean soldiers this month. >> woodruff: the military junta in thailand is ruling out any link between this week's bangkok bombing and foreign terror groups. monday's blast killed 20 people and wounded more than 120 others. there's been wide-ranging speculation about who carried

out the attack and why, leading to the military statement today: >> ( translated ): the security agency has collaborated with intelligence agencies from a lot of countries, and has come to the same preliminary conclusion that the incident is unlikely to be linked to international terrorism, and that chinese tourists were not the direct target. >> woodruff: the prime suspect, spotted on security video, remains at large. police today cleared two other potential suspects, but they said in all, as many as 10 people may have been involved in the plot. >> ifill: in egypt, the islamic state group claimed responsibility for a car bombing that wounded at least 30 people in a cairo suburb overnight. daylight revealed the extent of the damage. the blast ripped through the building's facade, blowing out its windows, and leaving a crater in the road. >> woodruff: and, britain and france announced new joint efforts today to stop thousands of migrants trying to sneak

through the channel tunnel. british home secretary theresa may and her french counterpart toured security operations in the port city of calais, near the tunnel's entrance. they promised more guards, fences and cameras. but may said that's still not enough. >> but the situation we are facing in calais is the result of a global migration challenge and that is why our two countries will continue to work closely together to make sure the rest of the european union, and the transit and source countries from which migrants are coming, are also playing their full part in solving this problem. >> woodruff: an estimated 3,000 migrants are camped in calais, with more arriving daily. at least 10 have died since june, trying to get through the tunnel to britain. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour: republican presidential candidates call for an end to american citizenship as a birthright.

plus... >> i think there is still something of an abiding prejudice against the graduates of many community colleges. >> ifill: how to increase graduation rates for those who've had the odds stacked against them. and much more. >> woodruff: there was another dramatic chapter in the greek economic crisis this evening, as prime minister alexis tsipras announced to his nation that he's resignining. >> my fellow greeks, i live it up to your judgment and my conscience is clear. i am proud of the battle my government and i have fought. we fought to stay true to our promises. we negotiated hard and insistently for a very long time. we held out against pressures and blackmail. it's true, we reached our limit, but we made the greek issue into

an international issue. >> woodruff: joining us with more on the prime minister's announcement is journalist john psarapoulos. so, john, what does this mean for the nation of greece? >> it means that this party, the left wing, soon the party will be reelected with broadened majority in about a month's time and we'll see that as a vindication of the effort it made last month to negotiate an austerity-free bailout loan with its european creditors, something they clearly did not succeed in doing and, because that had been a key election promise back in january, it says it now needs a renewed mandate. this, though, has to do with two other things. first, it has to clear its own house. it's got to get rid to have the far left back benches who are now a very powerful internal opposition and have drawn a third of the members of parliament away from the prime minister. and the second thing that is

going on here is that there is an opportunity to win single-party government -- in other words, to be able to rule without a coalition partner and to achieve broadened authority. >> woodruff: so are you saying tsipras thinks he's stronger as a result of what's happened lately? >> counterintuitively, yes, the polls seem to indicate he would come out stronger as a result of seven months at the helm in which the economy transitioned from one which had a positive outlook of 3% growth this year to renewed recession from -- and also after a period during which he essentially didn't succeed in sticking to his campaign promises. but tsipras has played the election rule book devastatingly well. he triggered an early election back in 2012 which saw his party go from 16% of the popular vote

to 26, and he did it again in january this year, when he refused to join the conservative -- well, the people who are then the ruling country, the ruling conservatives in the bipartisan consensus to elect a new president of the republic and that saw him come to power 36%. so he's left forward by 20 percentage points through triggering the earlier elections. i believe he believes he can achieve this result a third time. >> woodruff: what happens to the austerity measures passed? they had a referendum weeks ago, they were approved by the greek parliament, passed by the european union. where does all that stand? >> well, all that has been broadcast here in the local media, has been run in the local press. i've with one i've spoken to hasn't a hazy idea of what it really involves for them. they do know that tsipras

suffered a serious defeat in brussels when talking to their creditor. the government was forced to swallow the austerity issue. i think what's going on is it didn't succeed not because of tactical errors but because greece as a nation isn't strong enough to face down international creditors, institutions and 27 european union partners all who have voting publics to answer to. so i think people are essentially willing to give this government the benefit of the doubt for another term. >> woodruff: so quickly, the austerity measures that will be implemented will be what they were supposed to be before or weakened as a result of this? >> the conservatives, when they fell from power, were negotiating something in the

neighborhood of a billion dollars in austerity measures that would have taken effect this year. the deal that we now have in july looks -- the set to impose austerity measures worst at least $15 billion over three years, roughly 2, 2.5% of the economy each year. therefore, it is much worse. but what the argument is, yes, we were forced to bow to this but we also did get a $40 billion investment program, development program from the european commission, that's being funded federally, if you like. we also got an understanding that our primary surfaces, that means the amount of money that will be extracted from the greek economy to pay creditors, will be far lower than originally foreseen, says the greek public has been spared about $22 billion worth of payments to creditors. thirdly, the party says we will

be distributing the burden of the present austerity much more fairly, much more equitably. it won't be just the poor and middle class, the rich will also pay their share. >> woodruff: john psarapoulos in athens, we thank you. >> ifill: donald trump, anchor babies, and the latest big debate on the campaign trail. >> i will build the greatest wall that you've ever seen. >> ifill: donald trump's strong language on immigration has vaulted him to the top of the republican presidential field. in a policy statement on sunday, he moved beyond border security concerns, saying he also favors ending constitutionally-mandated birthright citizenship, which allows children born in the u.s. to be u.s. citizens, whether their parents are or not.

the wording of the 14th amendment is key: "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside." that includes children whose parents are here illegally. trump and others argue that goes too far, and encourages people to give birth here as a way of allowing entire families to stay. in some circles, those children have come to be called anchor babies. >> the parents have to come in legally. we have to find out what will happen from a court standpoint. many of the great scholars say that anchor babies are not covered. we're going to find out. >> ifill: other republican candidates agree, including wisconsin governor scott walker, governor bobby jindal of louisiana and senators lindsey graham of south carolina, ted cruz of texas and rick santorum.

>> it makes no sense right now that we have millions of people coming here illegally to this country and that current law grants their children citizenship by virtue of >> ifill: still others, including governor chris christie and senator rand paul, say the 14th amendment should at least be re-examined. but former florida governor jeb bush, who does not support repeal, used the issue to criticize trump's overall approach. >> you want to get to the policy for a second? i think that people born in this country ought to be american citizens. okay, now we got that over with! >> ifill: in new hampshire yesterday, trump called the 14th amendment "unconstitutional." but he stopped short of demanding outright repeal. joining us now to provide a little legal and poliitical background are suzanna sherry, professor of law at vanderbilt university, and alan gomez, who covers immigration for "usa today."

professor sherry, i want to ask you this and alan as well, is this a constitutional argument or a political one? i think it's a constitutional argument because the 14th amendment guarantees birthright citizenship and, so, it has to be amended if anybody wants to change that. >> ifill: alan gomez, a political argument? >> of course, there is part of that as well. there are some in congress who feel they don't need an entire new amendment to repeal this, they just need to rework the law, interpret it a little bit differently, but, obviously, as we're seeing on the campaign trail, there is a heavy political component to this. >> ifill: professor sherry, give us a history lesson, the genesis of this debate. >> the 14th amendment was passed in 1868, and the primary purpose of the sentence was to reverse the 1857 case of dred scott which held blacks could not be citizens. so this made everybody who was born here, black or white, a citizen of the united states. and it was a assumed, actually

from much earlier from that, from the first founding in the 1780s, it was assumed that citizenship went with birth. no one challenged it till 1850 when a new york state court found someone who was born here was a citizen and in 1898 the u.s. supreme court weighed in and held a chinese man who had been born in san francisco of chinese citizens and then had left, he could come back, despite the current law that excluded chinese immigrants, he could come back because being born here he was a citizen. the court said that birth here is a complete and sufficient qualification of citizenship. >> ifill: to be clear, alan gomez, this is not a debate or question that donald trump started? >> absolutely not. this is something that various

reps have been trying to push for quite some time. this argument goes back well over a decade, trying to change this. they've wanted to resort to the courts, but haven't figured out how to get standings to challenge the rulings. so in congress, we see repeated efforts as start graham, for example, is one who co-sponsored one of these to try to change the sphwerptation to have the 14th amendment to deny citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants, the argument being that, as we saw in the wording of the lang package badge -- in the wording of the language, that undocumented children don't qualify for the benefit. >> ifill: alan, what does it take for congress to repeal or otherwise to void constitutional amendments like this? >> to repeal the actual amendment, that obviously is an incredibly high hurdle.

so that gets into a three-quarter majority. but just to pass a law to say there is a new interpretation of it, that's another thing, obviously. this president would veto it, but who knows what the next president might think. that's where we get into sort of the political aspect of it and that's why we're seeing it become such a big issue on the campaign trail now. >> ifill: professor sherry, when's the last time congress or anybody was able to take a right away that is protected in the constitution? has it ever happened before? >> it's only happened once, that is the constitution has been amended only once to contract rights rather than expand them. it's been amended a lot of times to expand them and the one and only time that an amendment contracted rights was the 18t 18th amendment which was prohibition, and we all know that that one was repealed several decades later. >> ifill: alan, we know, of course, not all the republican candidates are in favor of revoking birthright citizenship.

in fact, we heard jeb bush talk about it and say he didn't necessarily think it was a great idea. but he also used the term "anchor babies." tell me about the political genesis of the term and why it stirs up such dust. >> it's perceived as such a slur to a lot overundocumented immigrants, a lot of hi hispani, a lot of immigrants in the first and second wave of immigration. this goes back for quite some time. i remember steve king from iowa, one of the biggest immigration hardliners we've seen in a long time and much like trump and a bit bomb bassic in the way he approaches things and used that years ago. it speaks to this idea. they had jeb bush talking about needing to improve the tone with the hispanic community in this country, calling on his other republican candidates to improve the attorneys yet not backing away from using "anchor babies." i think it's important to

understand that bush, while saying he did not believe we needed to change birthright citizenship, he wants to enforce it to prevent pregnant mothers from coming into the country specifically for the purpose of giving birth. marco rubio, florida senator, also endorsed that approach. so even though evened's not on board with birthright citizenship, a lot of folks are trying to get at it in different ways. >> ifill: professor sherry, is it uniquely american that if you're born here you're a citizen? >> it's almost uniquely american. the only other country is canada. a number of southern countries have it as well. no place in western europe, no place in asia, not australia. a number of european countries as well as australia and new zealand had birthright citizenship and they repealed it over the last 20 or 30 years.

>> ifill: on this idea of anchor babies, is there any evidence to support the notion this is a widespread idea that women come here to have babies and gain citizenship for them? are there numbers to back that up? >> it's hard to quantify intentions, but i can tell you in the reporting i and my colleagues have done is there is an industry of people who come here or sending people to this country to give birth. travel agencies advertise you can come over here, they teach you and coach you on how to speak to the customs and border agents as you're coming in so you can get in, have your baby, get the citizenship and head back. there are undocumented immigrants from central and south america who have done things when they cross over. but in terms of numbers, the last time i saw anybody look at that was the pew research center a few years ago and found well over 90% of the undocumented immigrants who gave birth in the united states had arrived in the united states at least two years

prior, so, in other words, they had come here and were not pregnant while doing so. >> ifill: an, one more question for you. how does this work for the democrats? >> for the democrats? they're pretty much sitting back and smiling at this point. if the purpose of what the republicans are trying to do is to win the republican nomination, there is a lot of support among republican voters for a lot of these ideas we're talking about, including changing birthright citizenship, but when you transition over the to the general election, mitt romney didn't go this far and he only garnered 27% of the hispanic vote, so if they have any hopes of trying to win over at least 27% if not more to have the hispanic vote which is the fastest growing demographic in this country, these things are very dangerous. >> ifill: no discussions of self-deportation this week. alan gomez, suzanna sherry, thank you both very much.

>> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: debating effective treatment for early stages of breast cancer. why one retail store wants to decrease consumerism, even at its own stores. and, a brief but spectacular take on self-sufficiency and space exploration. but first, we turn to former president jimmy carter's cancer diagnosis. the 90-year-old revealed today he has spots of melanoma on his brain. he talked about life, faith and the course of the disease with reporters at the carter center today, just before beginning radiation treatment at atlanta's emory hospital this afternoon. >> in may, i went down to guyana to help monitor an election, and i had a very bad cold. and i left down there and came back to emory so they could check me over. and in the process, they did a

complete physical examination. and the m.r.i. showed that there was a cancer, or growth. a tumor on my liver. they did a biopsy and found that it was, indeed, cancer and it was melanoma. and they had a very high suspicion then and now that the melanoma started somewhere else on my body and spread to the liver. at first, i felt that it was confined to my liver, and that the operation had completely removed it, so i was quite relieved. and then that same afternoon, we had an m.r.i. of my head and neck and it showed up that it was already in four places in my brain. so i would say that night and the next day until i came back up to emory, i just thought i had a few weeks left. but i was, surprisingly, at ease.

now i feel, you know, it's in the hands of god, whom i worship. and i'll be prepared for anything that comes. i feel good. i haven't felt any weakness or debility. the pain has been very slight. both of the former president bush had called me at one time, and then george h.w. bush, bush sr., called me yesterday afternoon again. i think i appreciated that very much, and their wives were there on the telephone with them. president obama called, the vice president called, bill clinton called, hillary clinton, the secretary of state called; the first time they've called me in a long time. (laughter) rose and i have planned on dramatically reducing our work at carter center but we have not done it yet. we talked about this when i was 80, when i was 85. we talked about it again i was 90.

this is a propitious time to carry out our long-delayed plans, so i'm gonna cut back fairly dramatically on my obligations at emory, at the i think i have been as blessed as any human being in the world. becoming president of the united states of america, and governor of georgia, and worked at the carter center, and big and growing family, and thousands of friends. so i don't think-- and living to be 91 years old, 1st of october. so, i've had... everything has been a blessing for me. >> and anything you wish--i'm sorry-- that you had not done, or that you had done differently? >> i wish i had sent one more helicopter to get the hostages. and we would have rescued them, and i would have been reelected. but that may have interfered with the foundation of the carter center. if i had to choose between four more years and the carter center, i think i would choose the carter center.

>> in the time that you have left, what would give you the most satisfaction to see something happen? >> well, in international affairs, i would say peace for israel and its neighbors. that's been a top priority for my foreign policy project for the last 30 years. right now, i think the prospects are more dismal than any time i remember in the last 50 years. the only process is practically dormant. as far as the carter center's concerned, i would like to see guinea worm completely eradicated before i die. i'd like for the last guinea worm to die before i do. >> woodruff: you can watch my conversation with president carter from last month, before his diagnosis, where we discussed his latest book, "a full life." that's at pbs.org/newshour.

>> woodruff: there was other big news today related to cancer: a study published in the journal of the american medical association's "oncology" found that women given lumpectomies and mastectomies as treatment for very early stage breast cancer had similar survival rates to those patients who had less radical cancer treatments. those findings may call into question some of the standard assumptions on how to treat the disease. for a closer look at the study and its potential implications. we turn to two cancer specialists: dr. steven narod is a researcher at the women's college research institute in toronto. he was the study's lead author. and, dr. monica morrow is chief breast cancer surgeon at memorial sloan kettering cancer center, in new york city. dr. morrow, dr. narod, welcome to you both. i'll start with you, dr. narod. on this study, we did read it's

the most extensive collection of data ever analyzed on this particular type of cancer. boil down the findings for us. >> we focused on 100,000 women who at the earliest form of cancer, some say a precursor lesion. since it's a very good prognosis, we followed 100,000 women for up to 20 years and found that, at 20 years, about 3% of them had died of breast cancer. roughly a third of the patients we treated with lumpectomy alone which is removing the focus of cancer. one-third of the patients, probably, had a lumpectomy plus radiotherapy and one-third of the patients had the entire breast removed through mastectomy. we found no difference in survival in 20 years between

women treated any of the three ways. >> woodruff: you said one-third, one-third, one-third. what do these findings tell you that the treatment should be? >> well, it tells us something about the early stages of breast cancer. the reason i say that is because, of those 3% of the women who died of breast cancer, most of them, 54% of them, between the time they had the initial lesion and a distant recurrence or metastatic disease never experienced recurrence of cancer in the breast. that leads me to believe, when the cancer was removed from the surgeon, it already spread around the breast and took up to 20 years for the cells to flourish and ultimately cause the breast cancer death. >> woodruff: to quickly interpret what you're saying and to turn to dr. morrow, sons

sounds like what we're hearing and the article says, dr. morrow, is the findings would suggest minimal treatment would be just as effective as the maximal treatment. what's your interpretation? >> i'm not necessarily sure the article says that. i think a critical finding of this study is how good the prognosis for d.c.i.s. is, and women should be reassured because we know women with d.c.i.s. estimate their risk of dying of breast cancer to be as high as 30% and this study says that's just simply not true. i think what it does tell us is, to date, physicians have been pretty good at selecting low risk d.c.i.s. which can be treated minimally with lumpectomy alone. i think it says we should think hard about expanding the indications for minimal treatment, but i think it's also important for women to be aware that we can only say there is nothing there but d.c.i.s. after

we've removed the entire area. 30% of women who -- or 20% of women who are diagnosed as having d.c.i.s. on a needle biopsy will actually be found to have invasive cancer when you remove the entire area. so the idea that you can do nothing at all for d.c.i.s. and end up with the same extremely favorable outcomes that dr. narod reports remains to be proven and should be the subject of future research, perhaps. >> woodruff: i want to clarify again for the audience watching, we're throwing around the term d.c.i.s. which, again, stands for the least advanced stage of cancer also known as stage zero. so dr. narod, you heard what dr. morrow said that she doesn't believe the treatment should change as a result of this study. are you saying something different should be done? that women should wait if they

have a very early stage breast cancer? >> no, i said i defer to dr. morrow who is the practicing surgeon, which i'm not. what i do say is there are two clear goals of treatment for d.c.i.s., separate goals. the first goal, the one we have been accustomed to and the one we've always prioritized is to prevent a new breast cancer event or recurrence. if the goal is to prevent the breast cancer death, then we found no benefit in the radiotherapy and mastectomy from the extents of surgery. >> woodruff: dr. morrow, what should a woman watching this who is -- you know, has to make a decision, or a woman who has had the more radical treatment in the past and is wondering if she should have had it, what are these women to think now? >> well, i think women who have had radical treatment can be reassured that they have an extremely high probability of

not dying of the d.c.i.s. that they have been treated for, and that's a very good position to be in. we can't always say that for radical treatment of invasive breast cancer. for women looking at treatment today, though, i think they have the opportunity to ask the surgeon who is counseling them, what are my options, what are the factors that suggest i might benefit from more aggressive treatment. if you're not given options, that's a good time to seek a second opinion. the other thingly say is that -- the other thing i will say is death is the primary end point of the surgery, for other women losing the breast is something they would like to seek additional treatment to avoid and there i think a person's individual values is important in deciding what is right for her to do. >> woodruff: every woman should have a close conversation with her own physician and we will leave it on that note.

we want to thank both of you, dr. monica morrow and dr. steven narod. we appreciate it. >> thank you. very much. >> ifill: next, we continue our series "rethinking college: closing the graduation gap." tonight, hari sreenivasan looks at an effort in florida to redefine the mission of community college. >> sreenivasan: for years, college students have had the odds stacked against them. as a first-generation american from a low-income family with no college experience, mullins is a statistical long shot to graduate from a four-year university. >> i really just want to make sure i can support myself and support my family. this may be that difference. >> sreenivasan: a unique

agreement on two campuses in her hometown in older or may dramatically improve her chances. this january, mullins was able to transfer from a community college to the university of central florida. the agreement called direct connect guarantees these valencia community college students who earn a two-year associate's degree to admission to u.c.f. the fort's president -- >> their success in earning the degree convinces us they're a good bet for admission to u.c.f. >> sreenivasan: direct connect tackles a tough problem in higher education. >> the first problem is -- >> sreenivasan: while the majority of college freshmen today begin at two-year community colleges, their credits often don't transfer to four-year institutions. in fact, nearly one in seven community college students lose 90% of their credits when they transfer to a four-year institution. >> it houses our partnership

with the university of central florida. >> sreenivasan: the idea of direct connect came from sandy show you guard, who says community colleges should be seen as a stepping stone. >> we are not a destination. most colleges want to think of themselves as a destination, come here, we'll make you happy and be your alma mater forever. we're a bridge and i want to be the best bridge we can be. >> sreenivasan: the university president says the universities should open doors to more graduates. >> there is a prejudice against many graduates of the community colleges. >> both were motivated by a dizero to diversify orlando's economy. most workforce is in tourism and hospitality jobs. >> you ask the question how is social mobility obtained in the u.s. it is predominantly through gaining higher education. we have to do a better job of

making education available to all different income groups. >> sreenivasan: a dream of a better life growght student alexandria castro to valencia's community college campus. >> it's right here on a silver platter for me. why wouldn't i take it? >> a third of our economy is low-wage and service-oriented. part of our mission is to find those people, equip them and let them move on. there is nothing wrong with a $9 or $10 job in the service industries if it's your first job. if it's your last job, there is a problem because you can't sustain a family on it. >> everybody understand how to upload a file? >> sreenivasan: other states have similar programs but what makes direct connect so valuable is a guarantee of a university not far from home. that's important to community college students the majority of whom are commuters. in alexandria castro's case, she lives at home to help with

younger siblings while her mother works. >> i take morning classes so that even when i'm on the bus, i come home on time and then, you know, i make them lunch or dinner. i'll check their homework, i'll do my homework and go to sleep. i'm helping her out. >> sreenivasan: using direct connect, community college students pay thousands less than students who start the university of central florida as freshmen. what does i.c.f. get out to have the the direct connect deal? diversity. in the past five years, the number of hispanic students earning bachelor's degree has jumped 134%. the number of graduating black students has nearly doubled. >> if you're the first in their family to get a degree, it not only changes their life, but the chance their children will go to college and graduate goes up enormously. >> sreenivasan: shenay believes a bachelor's will

protect her from the financial insecurities she faced growing up. >> we lived in an apartment. sometimes, you know, maybe i get the electricity gets cut off. i don't want to live like that and having to borrow to support myself. >> sreenivasan: should community college students feel compelled to pursue a four-year degree? >> we have the sort of mantra that says college is the gateway to social mobility and i think, in the past, we were able to enter into the middle class more assuredly. now it's not the case. >> sreenivasan: michelle wise says the push for bachelor's degrees may be an expensive and unnecessary pursuit. >> there is stuff in between the two-year and four-year degree, those are things we should think about in terms of leaders for social mobility. in terms of wage earning, it's probably a better idea for those students to get a professional

certification or certificate instead. >> sreenivasan: weiss says certificates, many sponsored by employers, can lead to good-paying jobs. >> web development, logistics, supply chain management, data, data analytics, these are all things where they're trying to create a pipeline of students who can immediately get recruited into jobs. once they finish, sometimes a six-week to 12-week program. >> nationally, 80% of students entering community college say they want a four-year degree. but only 17% actually succeed. for their part, valencia community college transfers are earning degrees at four times the national rate. >> our transfer students represent almost a fourth of all the graduates at the second-largest public university in america. at the point of graduation, they're graduating with virtually the same gpa. >> sreenivasan: shenay mullins plans to be one to have the

graduates. >> i can support myself, i went and got higher education so my parents are very proud of me. >> sreenivasan: from orlando, florida, hari sreenivasan, pbs "newshour". >> woodruff: next, a look at a seemingly counter-intuitive business model. economics correspondent paul solman goes inside an american clothing company that has been growing rapidly, while marketing itself as an anti-growth business. it's part of our weekly series, "making sense," which airs every thursday on the newshour. >> are you guys sitting down because this is pretty horrifying. okay? dog bite? shark attack? >> reporter: seamstress cathy averett couldn't care less. >> when i get something like this i do my best to make it kind of special, you know? it doesn't look new but so what, okay? i don't look new anymore.

it's ok! >> reporter: averett stitches for patagonia, the outdoor clothing company high end enough to have earned the nickname patagucci. downstairs, the company's reno, nevada warehouse and distribution center sends its garments hither and yon. >> to be worn by rock and mountain climbers. skiers and snowboarders. surfers. trail runners. or folks who just want to dress as if they do all that stuff. >> reporter: and each day some of those clothes make their way back to reno, to what's billed as the largest clothing rehab facility in north america. >> they mess them up and we fix them up! behind me are 55 people, extending the life of our product for our customers. >> reporter: doug freeman is patagonia's chief operating officer. >> we want our customers to invest in great product and when it's worn out, we want to repair it for them. >> reporter: it doesn't sound economical for the company. >> i can understand why you would say that.

but the way we view it is that we want to reduce consumption. >> reporter: that's what makes patagonia so odd --a supposedly anti-consumption corporation. since its founding in 1973, it's always had a so-called ironclad guarantee, including free repairs. but recently, the company ramped up its promotion of that pledge, with a cross country "worn wear" bus tour-- bio-diesel fueled, of course-- tailors reviving garments at stops along the way. and though it spends little on advertising, patagonia donates more than twice as much to environmental causes. >> we give away one percent of sales each year to grassroots environmental organizations around the world. >> reporter: the company is always on message, as in a famous full page new york times ad: "don't buy this jacket". >> it seems oxymoronic. >> reporter: it certainly does. in fact, sales are booming - up

25-30% a year since that ad ran. but, we wanted to know, is this just a sales gimmick? so we went to the new patagonia store in new york city's soho district. which boasts its own repair center. and, in keeping with the reduce, reuse, recycle ethos, features wood beams salvaged from the former domino sugar factory and marble counters reclaimed from the renovation of the museum of modern art. turns out customers like yoga instructor kim larkin buy into "don't buy this jacket." >> it's intriguing because nobody is saying that. everybody wants you to buy their stuff. >> reporter: but are you less or more likely to buy something once you've been told not to buy it? >> i think i'm more likely to buy it. >> reporter: why? >> because it feels like it's against consumerism in some way. >> reporter: so what's going on? well, according to patagonia, if

you buy stuff that lasts --and gets revived so it will last even longer-- well, in the long run, less stuff will get made and consumed. >> we hope our existing customers do indeed buy less. but we hope to attract more customers that are interested in our message: to build the best product to reduce our impact and cause the least amount of environmental harm. >> reporter: the way you could really reduce the company's footprint is by not selling any product at all! >> sure, but if we can show the business community that we're successful, we think we're holding ourselves as a great example for how business can be done differently. >> reporter: so you're trying to knock off all the competitors out there who are making throwaway products, essentially? >> that's right. >> reporter: so that's the message. and it's certainly working. 30-year old rich daniels is an aspiring men's fashion designer who would like to emulate patagonia's less is more philosophy. >> i think this patagonia

campaign is definitely a part of a bigger movement of fewer, better things. i'm not interested in disposable fashion. >> reporter: in fact, he was shopping for a patagonia jacket to replace one his parents had bought him when he 15. >> reporter: but do you feel at all as if you're being kind of suckered? >> reporter: well, don't buy this jacket and yet, please buy this jacket. >> sure. i mean, their goal is to sell clothes no matter what it takes. but i know that i'm gonna have something that's gonna last me a really long time. >> reporter: could the company be accused of conning the customer? district manager betsy pantazelos. and in the end, there is more consumerism and not less? >> i think not only can that be said, i think people have said that. but at the end of the day, this is really, truly who we are and we're trying to invent a different approach to economics and to consumerism. and that we recognize. we just need to start having a conversation. >> reporter: okay, let's grant the company the benefit of the doubt. but how, in short-term, wall street-driven corporate america, have they gotten away with a long-term strategy?

founder yvon chouinard, whom we were unable to interview because he was fly fishing, told an environmental forum recently that because patagonia is privately held, he's free to reject traditional corporate values. >> the problem with a lot of public companies is that they're forced to grow 15 percent a year. they're forced to show profit every quarter. there's not one public company that will voluntarily restrict their growth for the sake of saving the planet. >> reporter: in fact, chouinard has taken legal steps to try to prevent patagonia from ever going public. but what's so curious to observers is that patagonia, by voluntarily restricting growth, has fueled more growth. >> so i am faced with this growth thing. we could be a billion dollar company in a very few years. it's not something i ever wanted

or even want. >> so don't buy this jacket, yeah. do you really need it? >> reporter: the worn wear truck's latest stop: a music festival at the museum of contemporary art in north adams massachusetts. renowned rock climber timmy o'neill is another patagonia marketing ploy: not a pitch man, but a brand ambassador. >> it's not, "hi i'm timmy o'neill buy this jacket." it's, "hi i'm timmy o'neill get outside and experience wilderness." >> reporter: and he seems to mean it. as does clothing rehab artist cathy averett. >> i'm gonna tell you the truth, okay? when i first started here i was excited. oh, patagonia man, they got good stuff, i bet they got a good employee discount. but after i went on the worn wear tour, i've changed my way of thinking. i'm only gonna buy what i need. >> reporter: this is economics correspondent paul solman, reporting for the pbs newshour

from reno, nevada, where old clothes go to live another day. >> ifill: now to our weekly feature: "brief but spectacular." tonight, we hear from jason dunn of made in space, a company based out of singularity university, the california-based firm responsible for making the first 3-d printer to operate out of this world. >> i think that, in our lifetime, everybody we know will have a chance to go to space. it's really hard to do space exploration today because we are dependent on bringing everything on rockets on the surface of the planet. what we started working on was the idea of 3-d printing in space and, in fact, just building the things you need wherever you need it. today's version of space

exploration is like a camping trip. we bring everything we need with us and if something goes wrong, we go back home really quick or call home and ask for some help. so if we want to go live on mars one day or go back to the moon and set up a base, we need to learn how to be self-sufficient in the way we explore space. figuring out how to make a 3-d printer work in zero graft was one of the most difficult parts. we got to take our 3-d printers into an aircraft that flies acrobatic maneuvers in the sky. you get a period of weightlessness and float inside the airplane. everything is falling into place that we can actually send people to mars and to the moon and to the astroids and we can build entirely new worlds of our own like large space stations. that's really the vision is we have the entire universe at our disposal to go out and explore. growing up in florida, for me, it was a lot about exploration. i lived on the gulf of mexico.

i had my own boat. i spent most of my days exploring swamps and estuaries and things like that, spaces like the ocean that i grew up sitting on the edge of, and i feel like as humanity we're on the surface of the planet which is like the shore and we're ready to finally go out and see what's out in the ocean. my name is jason dunn and this is my "brief but spectacular" take on why our future may be made in space. >> ifill: on the newshour online, we continue our series "race today." one of the most outspoken and influential organizers in the "black lives matter" movement, deray mckesson, writes about ferguson as a flashpoint for today's social media-driven civil rights movement. plus, what can a 5,000-year old archaeological site tell us

about the competitive nature of its in habitants? we traveled to a neolithic village in scotland to see what "keeping up with the jones's" looked like in prehistoric times. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and michael gerson. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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