captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: tensions rise in the persian gulf, as the united states blames iran for damage done to oil tankers off the arabian ninsula. then, "fighting for the future." concerns abound over a chinese mobile phone giant's push to control the next generation of mobile technology. plus, "rethinking college."in how a new laalifornia is revamping the state's math curriculum to prevent students from dropping out. >> math stops tens of thousands of students, who would othwise do fine in college, from getting to the goal line. sh woodrf: all that and more,

on tonight's pbsr. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> k!in. >> kevin >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-plned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> ordering takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> pnning for showers. >> you can do the things you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at nsumercellular.tv >> for projects around the house, home adviser find local pros to do the work. you n book appointments with pros online at homeadviser.com. home adviser is proud to support

pbs newshour. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more. >> bnsf railway >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was ma possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by cyoontributions t pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump is playing down the current trade standoff with ina, and playing up prospects of a deal. the two nations have fired off new salvos of tariffs on billions of dollars in gbuoods. mr. trump insisted today that his relationship with chinese president xi is hextraordinary," and he insisted thatrade negotiations have not collapsed. >> we're having a little

squabble with china, because we've been treated very unfairly for many, many decades, for tually a long time. we are again in a very, very strong positn. if they want to make a deal, it could absolutely happen. >> woodruff: u.s. trade officials today published a list of another $300 billion worth of chinese goods that could be targeted. beijing, in turn, vowed to fight u the finish. leaders in t. and iran appeared today to try to ease rising tensions in that part of the world. state tv quoted grand ayatollah ali khamenei as saying, "this is not a military confrontation because no war is going to happen."ru and, president dismissed a "new york times" report that the u.s. might send 120,000 troops

to the middle east if iran atcks. we will delve into all of this, after the news summary. the president's son, donald rump jr., will testify be the u.s. senate intelligence committee, related to the russia investigation. the committee had subpoenaed him, but a number of reports say that the two sides reached a deal today. ganwhile, it is also reported that u.s. attorneral william barr has appointed a federal prosecutor to review the origins of the probe into russian interference in 2016. u.s. attorney john durham, in connecticut, will focus on whether surveillce of the trump campaign was proper. secretary of state mike pompeo carried a warning today to russia, er intruding in u.s. elections. meeting in sochi, foreign minister sergei lavrov again denied interfering in the 2016 presidential campaign. pompeo pointed to potential trouble in two years. >> i made clear to foreign minister lavrov, as made clear hsr the past montthat interference in american elections is unacceptable.

if the russians were engaged in that in 2020, it wutouldur relationship in an even worse place than it has been. and encourage them not to do that, that we would not tolerate that. >> woodruff: pompeo also met th president vladimir putin, who welcomed the results of the mueller report. he said it showed that there was no collusion between russian officialthe trump campaign. the governor of florida says russian hackers broke into voter databases in two of the state'so ties before the 2016ec on. ron desantis spoke today, after a briefing by the f.b.i. and the department of homeland security. he said the hackers did not compromise the election results. in a statement later, the f.b.i. confirmed that assessment. montana governor steve bullock has joined the 2020 democratic presidential field. the 53-year-old bullock announced today. he cast himself as a centrist

who can win in states like montana, which president trump carried in 2016. he joins a packed field of 22 democratic candidates. in the philippines, it appears esident rodrigo duterte' allies have won big in this week's midterm elections. unofficial results show them taking half the seats in the philippine senate, where opponents have blocked some of duterte's policies. the vote was seen as a anferendum on duterte's violent anti-drug crackdowhis embrace of china. back in this country street rebounded a bit from monday's sell-off. the dow jones industrial averant thined 207 pto close at 25,532. nasdaq rose 87 points, and the s&p 500 added 22. and, two passings of note. longtime american economist alice rivlin died today of cancer. she was a founder of the

congressional budget office, and later, the first woman to serve as white house budget director, and as deputy chair of the federal reserve. she was a longtimehampion of reining in the federal debt, as on the newshour in 2012: >> we can't fix the long-run problem of the dicit by just cutting spending, and we can't fix it by just raing taxes. we've got to do some af each. but radual way, over time, and in a much more intelligent way. >> woodruff: alice rivlin was 88 yrs old. and, comedian tim conway died today in los angeles. he got his first break, in the 1960s, on tv's "mchale's navy," as a bumbling, world war ii ensign. l and cameg stint on "the carol burnett show" that earned him four emmy awards. l er years, he voiced barnacle boy on the "spongebob squarepants" series. tim conway was 85 years old. still to come on the newshour: tensions rise in the persian

gulf, as the u.s. blames iran for damaged oil tankers. the rise of chinese cellphonean huawei causes security concerns. labor union leader james hoffa declares his support for president trump's tariffs on chinese imports. and, much more. >> woodruff: this past week, the already-difficult relationip between the united states and iran has become even more tense. administration officials have warned that they wou respond with "unrelenting force" to any iranian attack. tehran has teatened to exceed caps on its nuclear program. and today, saudi arabia says that rebels in yemen, believed to be backed by iran, staged a major attack. our nick schifrin is he with an update. >> schifrin: hormuz strait of hormuz

hello, nick. >> hi, judy. >> nawaz: what do we know? >> the saudis are accuseing the howities of launching aned drone against two saudi pumping stationsnside saudi arabia and they did claim credit for this one.al saudi offiays, this is a game changer. n have seen attacks before, but we haveer seen an attack with this level of precision, never flown so far from eir bases in yemen with an armed drone, and they have flavor hit state-owned oil targets with ch success according to a saudi official. a former u.s. intelligence official with experience manyab saudi says, let's take this with a grain of salt. they have attacked oil acilities in saudi arabi before and they have flown this far into saudi arabia. saudi arabia just doesn't make those attacks publicly usually. th attack was close to riyadh, the capital of saudi arabia. it was by a group that even the

u.n. says receives weapons or missile parts from iran itself, and iran has vowed to attack saudi arabia some weetting a lot of concern from both saudi and u.s. officials today. >> nawaz:. >> woodruff: no this was the second attack? >> an take on four oil tankers onunday morning, three of them against iranian enemy, against saudi arabia and tankers. we don't know a lot about thisbu tankaccording to u.s. and saudi officials, it was relativelily sophisticated. the u.s. officials i'm talking sa they believe -- they believe -- that iran or its proxies were behd not only that attack against the tankers, but also this drone attack in saudi arabia. but, judy, i will say, they wilp not give me throof. they don't have any or they simply won't share it yet. >> woodruff: i know you're talking to a lot of people. what do the ones who follow iran say about why iran would be doing this right now if they're doing it?

>> we don't know that the.y're doing iran does deny they're doing it. st i have talked to a lot of people, and the iran is facing a lot of external pressure. that's mostly from the u.s., both the rhetoric, the military moves, and, of course, the sanctions. there is a lot of internal pressure, as well. the economy is doing poorly. the iran nuclear deal had in mind the idea that iran would benefit economically.as iranot received those benefits. the economy is doing poorly. so what these officials i talked to say, is is a way to resist all of that external u.s. pressure. and also a way to relieve some of the internal pressure to perhaps rally round the flag. one u.s. official i talked to put hit the way. this is iran ratchetiup its resistance. but in a way that allows them plausible deniability, we're generally talking about proxies here, and in a way that doesn't create a direct conflict with the united states.>> oodruff: but at this point no sign that the u.s. is pulling back on this pressure campaaign gainst iran? >> quite the opposite.

they are increasing the pressure over the last week and a half, we've seen the deployment of u.s. military assets, u.s. and happ lincoln carrier, you see i right there, four b-52 bombers that accompanied that carrier group, an amphibious warship in addition to what you are looking at, there and patriot missile batteries onhe way. these are assets that have been in the middle east in the past. the u.s.ng has been fighars in the middle east, much less today some these assets have en there in the past. this is not a huge ratcheting up of deployments by the u.s. but obviously it's sending a message to iran that white hse officials say the message is deterrence. also sending a message, a "new york times" article tod that said, 120,000 troops would be consideredent by the united states to the region if there is sty iranian attack, but f let's listen to what president trump had to say when askedth abou article this morning.

>> i think it's fake news.ou now, i do that? absolutely. but we have not planned for that. hopefully we will not an for that. if we did, that we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that. >> so u.s. officials say they that meeting did happen. this discussion did take place. but 120,000 troops is one of many contingencies that the u.s. could use depeing on what happens and that they've made absolutely no decisions yet.le but it'sr, as we said, that the u.s. is trying to make iran feel the heat right now and defense officials tell me there is an increed thre against u.s. troops in iraq and in the region. now, i will say thi to a senior democratic congressional official this evening who told me that the administration is "inflating" the threat. so there are some divisions and there are some questions about this intelligence and about the threat that the u.s. is describing. judy, the bottom line is there is a cycle of ctifron between the u.s. and iran right now, and it appears to be getting worse.

>> woodruff: we need tog continue askestions, which i know you will continue to do. >> we will continue to do so. >> woodruff: nick schifrin, thank you. >> woodruff: for months, the trump administration has been trying to convince foreign countries not to allow the chinese telecommunications company huawei to build the latest generation of mobile networks. but, they are being met with skepticism by allies abroad. as amna nawaz reports, ptr administrations officials were on capitol hill today once agahn makingase against huawei. >> nawaz: when the senate judiciary committee convened today, it was clear that so-called "5g" technology is a brave new world for some. >> today we'll talk about something i am no expert on. >> i actually know very little about 5g. >> nawaz: but others warned, the race to 5g-- or "fifth

generation" communications technology-- is well under way, ded, they said, china's in the lead. cratic senator chris coons of delaware: >> the very real potential that chisa will be the winner in next generation of technology, and that will allow them to both exploit and benefit from and potentially disrupt what we be always on, always present, central networks that drive everything literally everything, from our vehicles to health care to national security to our power system, is chilling and concerning. i'm convinced that our ability to be leaders on the global stage depends on our ability to command the intellectual property heights of 5g. >> nawaz: indeed, china is moving rapdly. in guiyang, for example, public transportation is now a 5g experience, with panoramic maps and on-board entertainment. >> ( translated ): the 5g wifi is fast in speed without any stuttering, even when you swipe your smart phone. i am amazed by t facilities on the bus. the 5g era is coming. >> nawaz: but the trump administration argues that chinese tech giant huawei is susceptible to state pressure. american officialsave barred huawei from u.s. government

ntracts, and are urging u.s. allies to follow suit. secretary of state mike pompeo made the case in london last week. >> why would anyone grant such power to a regime that has already grossly violated cybrspace? is is exactly what china wants. they want to divide western alliances through bits and bytes, not bullets and bombs. nawaz: chinese offials dismiss western fears and say 5g, by definition, needs global cooperation. >> ( translated ): in the era of globalization, the development and utilization of 5g depends on the exchange and cooperation the attempts to introduce politicafactors into 5g development, utilization and cooperation, politicize the related issues or adopt >> nawaz: amid the back-and- forth, ajit pai, thedehair of the l communications commission, told the newshour last month that he believes the 5g racis a winnable one. >> if you look at some of the independent observers, they believe that the united states is in the lead when it comes to 5g. c for examplco recently put out a report suggesting that

north america-- led, of course,t by the united es-- would have twice as many 5g connections as asia by 2022. >> nawaz: in the meantime, huawei insists it is independent, and i chairman pledged today to sign no-spying agreements with other countries. and with me now is ambassador robert strayer. he is deputy assistant secreoary f state for cyber and international communications and information policy. >> thank you. thank you for having me. >> nawaz: so the u.s. has been on a dip past year trying to get the allies to shun huawei. what is that argument you're making to other countri? >> right. we're talking about the importance of 5g technology, that it's going to bring whole new level of prosperity to our society. it's going to empower all kinds of things like telemedicine, autonomous transportation system, including autonomous vehicles, as well as ecaower that cri infrastructure we have today, such as electricity distribution. ry importa it a part of our lives. so we're talking to these countries about the need to also

have it be a secure type of technosegy. it's becf all those important things that ride on it that it needs to have the highest levelf security. that requires looking at the supply chain of the even. .. that will provide that underlying 5g infrastructure. so we say you need to look at the country from which that technology is coming and the ability of that government in a country to influence the to take actions that are not in your country's interests or in your citizens' interests. they can cause that technology to be disrupd. that would cause your electricity to be disruptedded or your provision of water or sewer or her important critical services that the public needs to have available.o it also wouldde the opportunity for a foreign power to conduct espionage on thoksse netw >> nawaz: these are specific concerns you have about the chinese government and their influence over huawei is. that what you're saying? >> that's exactly right. >> nawaz: that argum doesn't seem to be catching fire with the other u.s. allies? you just came back from this big conference in prague about 5g, 30 plus other nations.

no one else has signed on to the ban at that conference. why isn't that argument working? >> so our diplomatic plan is first to get countries to acknowledge theris a risk regarding the supply chain. there is not a country out there a telecommunications partner that does not now acknowledge after a year of our diplomatic effort that there is a supply chain risk they need to consider when building out ther 5g network. we have been successful in that regard. we have seen a number of countries imp blements on huawei technology, including australia and japan we're continuing to have a dialogue with all of our partners. it's going to take a lot of education. it's going to be a long-term process as we see 5gld buiut over a number of years. it will not happen immediately. >> nawaz: but the u.s has been moving with real urgency. you say this is a national security problem. only handful of countries have signed on, not a singl european country. in fact, british intelligence has now said they think they can tigate the risk, whatever risk huawei presents. why isn't the u.s. argument landing with your allies?

>> well, i think is landing in the sense they're acknowledging the security risk tat's at stake. it's one of theop priorities for secretary pompeo and for the the administrati to make sure we're continuing to educate our partners an allie about the risks at place here. at the end of the day, it's going to be their ow sovereign decision about how best to implement 5g technologies in their society. they need to do it with open eyes and understanding of all the security risks that are at stake. because it's going ke so much time, we don't expect them to immediately implement bans. we want them to adopt strong security-based point -- protocols so they are recognizing all the cyber risks as well as the supply chain risks. en you rigorously suppl the the -- apply those things that came out of the czech republic, an they should look at the legal regime as well, including the ability of a third country toue ine the vendor, when you apply those, there is no way you

should haveuawei in you government's network. >> nawaz: do you think the u.s. has a credibility problem making this argument at this time? there are strained relationships with our allies and the trump. the warning is beware, this country could spy on you, when the u.s.'s own spyi program has been laid bare. does that complicate your job? >> not at all. we have frank conversations with our partners about security concns. this is particularly focused just on security. that's an easy conversation for us to have with other governments. we can continue to have very in-depth conversations about security. >> nawaz: so huawei officials said they are a private company. they are under no obligation tok ith the government. a spokesman said they would be willing to sign a nor-spy ment. could there be a meeting halfway, a compromise, or will the u.s. only support an all-out ban? >> that's a completely feckless point to make on their part. there is no differentiation or inen the private sec

companies and the government in china. the government through the i nationelligence wall and other walls at its disposal can compel companies to take actisi. thero way for that company to object. there is no such thing as s.dependent judicial redr they are subject completely to the direction of the chinese co -- communist party. so it's impossible for an official to say they won'do this because they can be ordered the next day to do so by the chinese communist party and xi jinping. >> nawaz: in some ways calling for a bandd isressing that problem that's already out there. huawei says they're in 170 countries working with governments and customers there. and the argument for the countries that want to work with them, is look, they build good gear. r itiable, and it's cheap. what's the incentive for a country to want to get potentially behind in technological advancement and pay more to do that? f st, we would say there is no reason you would fall behind technologically by going with

something that's more trusted bi the gear provided by erikson, nokia and samsung. dheir technology is just as goo without the risk. >> nawaz: huawei is the clear global leader right now. >> when you look at e number of trials in the field, there is more done by erikson than even awei. over time we'll see much more development in the field. we shouldn't be rushing out there to choose the cheapest alternative right now. the other companies are going t provide increasing amounts of ecapability on their systms. >> nawaz: robert strayer, thank you very much for being here.yo >> than for having me. >> woodruff: stay with us. comi one-on-one with democratic presidential candidate tim ryan. how califoia is rethinking its math curriculum to help students stay in college. and, author jared diamond on tipping points across the globe,

in his new book "upheaval." even as china and the u.s. are still trying to reach a trade deal before the summhe stakes and the tension just keep growing. china retaliated this week with the threat of raisg its own tariffs on u.s. goods, and that was followed by president trump's latest threat that he may raise tariffs on another illion worth of chines goods. workers, jobs and wages are of course at the art of this. we get the view tonight of one prominent labor leader, james hoffa, the president of the international brotherhood of teamsters. the teamsters represent 1.4 million members, including drivers, public employees, and construction and sanitation workers. james hoffa, welcome back to the newshour. the president's tariffs and the retaliation by china, as we said, are making a lot oop pe nervous.

what is your view? >> my view is we need tariffs nainst china. d a strategic way the use them, because we really have to lel the playing field with china. they have had it one way all e.is tim american goods are not getting in there. we have to create a market, a bigger market than soybeans for american products to go into china, which is a huge billion-person country. loat's not happening. we're beinged out right now. that's what this trade war is about, about opening their market so we can sell our products therean. that's got to happen. i think the use of tariffs with regard to china is a good idea. >> woodruff: well, it may be good in an ideasense, bu as you know very well, there is serious worry about it not only raising prices for american cnsumers, but hurting american businesses in a way that is going t cost productivity for years to come. >> brangham: we have hearde, that but also say, why can't we buy american gooy . n't we basically food

goods that are made here. many goods are made here. let's put amerins to work. i buy american. let's buy products made here, made in maybnada where we have people who are friendly to us that are not hostile to us with regd to trade. let's put people here in the united states back to work. ut james hoffa, you know very well the reason so many of these products and their manufacturers have moved to china is because they are able to make these goods in a mu cheaper way americans are able to buy the same products they used to buy u.de in th, but they are much less expensive. so what you're talking about is asking t americanspay more for the same goods. >> you might pay a few bucks more, so you pay 20 cents more for a t-shirt. if you're pentagon somebody to work, isn't that a good idea? we can't be driven by this idea china, it's cheaper in and let them get away with everything. we have to penetrate that market. why are weot selling over there? why are they not buying our good

products? they are laws against it.al they're sg our intellectual property. they'rer iisonning a million people in concentration camps. they have gone wild over there. we havebao get thek to our senses. i think one way is this trade war to say,, get back to your senses. we want to be trading partners with you, ano you have t open your markets. i think this is a way to do it. >> woodruff: i think a lot of people would agree with you on the politics of it, but they are concerned about the cost. you said 20 cents on a t-shi. the reality is that the experts that have looked at this are saying the ct of washing machines, of clothing, of food items could go up considerably, and how do you defehand to working americans who are basically living from paycheck to paycheck? >> well, if they take the company like whirlpool and put r company a factory here, with americans working there, maki those whirlpool machines, making those washing machines?

iwouldn't that be a gooa? basically start making things here. we don't make things in thistr coy anymore. and that's one of the things wrong with our economy. and that's why we've had our wages slip. we need to have manufacturing jobs here. and this is one way to dot. if we make those products here, and we export them to other parts of the world, maybe notll china, that ork. but the idea i can get it cheaper from china can't be the onr determining factth regard to our relationship wia.h ch >> woodruff: i know you have studied labor history, james hoffa. you know that in mostinstances what happens is that jobs... manufacturing is going to go to places that say, we will do a great job of making this item, buwe're going to do i for less. people don't want the pay more if they can get the same thing, a quality item, but pay less for it. >> that's whatus's been drivin for the past ten years, and look where we're. a we have trade deficits wi everybody. yes, we get a few cheaper products here, but we don't make anythg here in america.

we're hallowing out our economy. for the short-term gain, we're basically losing our manufacturing ability. that's why we have a wage slippage.'t people dake the kind of money they should be making here. we don't have manufacturing jobs. 're hallowing out our economy by being slaves to basicomally savingmoney on a bike or some toys. think that's wrong. we have to reassess how we look at this to say, dwe want to be a real economy where we manufacturer things and someplace that wants to go to toys 'r' us and buy something cheaper. >> woodruff: you're making it sound like it's a small part of someone's budget. are yourembers saying they are willing to pay more for the goods they need for their >> i think our members will stick with us to say, we want to have good jobs. oumembers have good job. our members are working hard. they make good money. they have healthcare.th have pensions. they're the middle class. we have to have more people in t middle class, more people like the teamsters and organized labor. that's what's wrong with this

country right. now we've hlowed out our economy where we basically have people working for nothing rkor basically g for $11 an hour with no benefits. and working for 20 hours aweek. that's what's wrong with the economy. they're basically people oveling to buy these cheaper products that come from china. that's not thamerican way. i want to turn this thing around. i want to basically have people making things here, exporting things, putting people to let's put america back to work. >> woodruff: an your members are prepared to pay higher pric? >> if they have to. >> woodruff: and they're not worried about losing their jobs? >> well, they're not going to lose their jobs. our people are workiht now. our people are working right now. we have a robust economy. i don't seeiehis as beingd to losing their jo. i think this is going to be short term. number one, i think people are overreacting to this entire affair. i think it's going to be overwith soon. i think somebo is goingto blink here, because china has so much more to lose than we do. they have five to one with regard t trade. people talk about soybeans.

they are selling so much stuff to us, they cannot afford to lose this battle. and they have to bically ha it so they can keep selling stuff here, but they have to open their markets too that. it has to be an equal trade. we sell to them, they sell to us. that is our goal. >> woodruff: james hoffa, president of the teamsters, thank you very m.h. >> thank y >> woodruff: tim ryan has long been considered a rising star in the democratic party. he was just 29 years old when he was first elected to congress in 2002representing youngstown, ohio, a working-class town hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs. he gained natial attention in 2016, when he challenged nancy pelosi for her leadership position.

today, he is one of more than 20 democrats running hifo party's presidential nomination. tim ry, welcome to the rogram. >> thanks. >> woodruff: so let's start with china and trade, a topic i just spoke with james hoffa of the teamsters about. what do you think about president trump's tariffs, his punishing china for what he says is an unfair playi feel? >> i think that tariffs are a ctic that need to be utilized when china is cheating, and they do cheat. they cheat with intellectual property. they've dumped steel tubing into districts like mine for a long time. we need to have those tariffs utilized to remedy that. but it needs to beart of a larger strategy. that's the problem with the president. e e day they, one day they're off. it's not part of a larger strategy on how we deal with china. i actually think that we beat china, we deal with china by actually having a icyustrial

pon the united states. >> woodruff: what does that mean? >> that means that there are industries that are growing. at 25 or 30%.e we h build our way out of this thing. electric vehicles. there is one to two million now. there will be 30 million electric vehicles in the next ten years. right now china dominates 40% of that market. where is the american industrial policy to dominate electric vehicles? >> woodruff: but if your own strict, the 13th district of ohio, the general motors plant, as we know, a lot of distress over the fact that that shut down. 1,600 jobs i believe it was. they were making some electric vehicles, but that portionf vehicle manufacturing just hasn't taken off yet in thistr co >> well, there is no industrial policy. we were maki the chevy cruze. if i were president, i would sit down with t t bigee automakers and emerging companies dealing with those kind of electric vehicles, the department of energy. there are programs that the president has zeroed our around onectric vehicles. the transportaepartment,

the venture capital community. let's dominate this. this has h topen at the white house level. this has to happen in the oval office. and we're not getting th kind of live. that's how you beat china. >> woodruff: let's just back up.e how u different? what makes tim ryan stand out from the other 20-some democrats who are running for president. >> because i have been at the epicenter o de-industrialization in the united states of america. when jobs are los i'm at the union hall. i know people in these factories. i know -- they're my family. they're my friends. we've been dealing withthis for 20 years, and i've been right there. what makes me different is that i have that experience, but also that i have been thinking about how the heck dot e out of this mess. >> woodruff: but you, with all due respect, you haven't been able to stop the collapse of so muchthe manufacturing sector. >> that's why i'm running for president.it becaus going to take presidential leadership, and quite frankly, both partys have iled to address the implosion of these communities.

we started down the road of globalization, automation.ug no one ever t about the workers. they have been forgotten. unheard and unseen. president trump came in and swept in, and they voted for him, because -- >> woodruff: and right now the economy is doing well and the president is saying, it's p because of icies. >> no, there is no shot. look, the stock market is as high a it's ever been. the unemployment rate is low. people are still strugglin workers are still struggling, white, black, brown, gay, straight. they're surviving. they can barelyeep their head above water. prescription drug costs, healthcare costs, wages aren't going up nearly at the level they need to be. >> woodruff: why is tim ryan better in terms of leading this country than say joe biden, who also comes from working-class america, scranton, pennsylvania? like you he comes out of a distressed area, but he's got a lot more experience thayou. >> well, this election is about the future, and i will telthyou i understand what's happening in the economy right

now, and i understand the direction we need to go in. we need to get in front of these g industries, electric vehicles is one, solar, wind, ditive manufacturing, a.i., artificial intelligence. we'vgot to dominate these. in the 1970s when the steel mills closed, the technology in those steel mills was preworld war i, we're at the same point now. we can be afraid of these technologies and we can dominate them. tfuse them into these industries and cuse workers in on the deal. that's how we win the future in the united states. >> woodruff: t me ask yo quickly about a couple of other issues. the environment, you have take an mous proess approach than some of your democratic competitors. n you hat fully embraced the green new deal. what are you saying needs to be done differently about this? >> i embrace a green new deal. i ju think we haveo have public-private partnerships if we're going to get there. we have to align t environmental incentives with the financial incentives. if we don't have the profit motive, help in the ingenuity

t comes innovation t from our capitalistic system aligned with fixing the heenvironment, it's goingake us forever to do it. the department of energy has some role. government has sbue role. it can't be a centralized plan. how do we get prite investment, venture capital ramping these things up and build our way out of this, electric vehicles, solar, wind. these the industries that are growing. you can put workers to work like jimmy hoffa's people, andi decarbze the american ecoernomy and ody wins. it seems to me like it makes a lot of sense. ta woodruff: another issue where you seem tod out from your democratic competitors is immigration. you have said democrats can't go into ohio, the great las region of this country, and ask workers to be with them unless they a thiut border security. >> yeah. >> woodruff: making people eiand children feel safer. so what would you do differently? about the border? >> on the immigration i'm lock step with all progressives new

york question about it. we need to have a comp ssionate immigration sytem. we should accommodate refugees. we should have pathway to citizenship. i'm 1,000% for all that. but if the american people want to know that you're also going to prott them. we have an opioid crisis in ohio. people are dying left and right, have to make sure those drugs don't get into our country, so we better convince everybody -- >> woodruff: how would you do that? >> you use technology. trump is usininthe old tariffs, old economy, old approach for gllization. he's using the wall is his technique for border security. you need more dogs. on the ports of entry, more there are all kinds of technology we can use to make sure this tppens. you ha have a better relationship with mexico, and quite frankly, you need to get established in central america. these countries that are unsecure, insecure, people are coming to the united states, we don't even have an ambassador in honduras. that gofs to the hearthe problem. go to the heart of the problem

od solve it there so we're not dealing with it border. >> woodruff: representative tim ryan running for president, running for the democratic nomination. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: colleges created remedial education classes to help make sure struggling students were ready for higher- level clses. buny students still take those courses. increasingly, there is a sense that classes like remedial math are hurting the prospects of the very students schools want to help. only a third of students placed in those courses go on to graduate or complete higher level math. the numbers are even worse for students of color. hari sreenivasan has a report for our special "rethinking coege" series, part of our regular "making the grade" segment. >> sreenivasan: for thousands of

college students, like jose ceballos, this isn't just a math class. this is a way around a major roadblock to a college degree. olei feel like my perception on math, like, just changed. >> sreenivasan: for decades, ceballos ad others who did poorly in math weren't allowed to enroll in courses like these that countoward a bachelor's degree. instead, they were placed in low-level remedial courses. >> i hated it. i was like, "i don't want to do this." >> sreenivasan: victoria dominguez is ceballos' professor. >> i would see them just retaking the classes over and over, the same class. >> sreenivasan: in 2016, a study by the california public picy institute found that only one in four students in remedial math asses were passing. the very courses that were design to get students college -ready had become bars to a four-year degree. >> i took it six times, and i coul >> sreenivasan: the passing rate for minority students like reina

schmitz was particularly troubling. one study showed only 2% of latino students and of african american students in low-level remedial clagees passed colath, two years after enrolling. >> they give up. they get discouraged. >> those remedial courses often were a trap. >> sreenivasan: christophere edley is thedent of the opportunity institute. >> people would take them once,r twice, times, still not ding, and they'd use up their financial aid eligibility, they'd get discouraged, they'd end up dropping out. no question, math stops tens of thousands of students, who would otherwise do fine in college, from getting to e goal line. >> sreenivasan: hoping to stop students from dropping out of llege, california legisltors passed a new law that requires community colleges to offer alternatives to remeal classes, like the statistics class jose ceballos'ttends at citrus college. what's the difference now that

you're doin >> what we're doing now is, we added an extra two units to the class.it s extra time. whatever algebra skills they need to be successful in statistics, they get it right when we are teaching attics concepts. >> sreenivasan: dominguez alsotu asksnts to set goals, reflect on their behavior, and help each other. >> how will you change your behavior? fa just positive thinking, not giving up when you. >> when we're learning something new, instead of being, like, "oh, i don't understand," making myself more lost, so ithtead of doin, i should, like, go to tutoring or ask questions. >> sreenivasan: some pf it almost seem like a bit of group therapy, when you're trying to deal with their phobias of math. >> exactly right. because they have a lot of common issues. and the more they can talk to each other, they're going to get over those difficult humps in the class. >> sreenivasan: e intense scrutiny of remedial math in

california colleges has led some high schools to rethink their math curriculum. >> i want you guys to come up with at least two statistica questions with more than one variable. >> sreenivasan: at leuzchinger highl, just outside of los angeles, daniel gavrilovic teaches an alternative mant class calledduction to data science, or i.d.s. >> this class was to say, hey, e,t's look at math from a different perspectreate a new pathway for our students who ically struggled with math. your question is how age relates to music. >> sreenivasan: students use engaging data, often surveys about teenagers, to solvha problemsalso tell a story. >> what's your data question? >> "are vegetarians more likery to drink whan juice?" >> ah, you want to filter out?

>> vegetarians, and the beverage. >> okay. >> sreenivasan: algebra and geometry are folded into the wstory-line. t we see in traditional math is, you know, "draw x+y+z" and "what's the slope" and "the intersection of the axis," right? so they have a visual for a function. now, this class, you're doing the same thing, but that data visualization actually has a story behind it. there's meaning behind the visuals. >> with the story, we can actually come up with things that we're interested in. so, you put your life into math, and make it better. >> sreenivasan: i.d.s. was created by the california math project at u.c.l.a. the course satisfies college expectations for algebra. kyndall brown is the executive director. >> if a student takes i.d.san is successful, you'll get credit for passing algebra 1 and algebra 2, and algebra 2 is a big stumbling block for a lot of students. >> i hatedlgebra 2. like, it was the worst class ever, to me. >> sreenivasan: christophe edley says algebra 2 is more than a stumbling block. he says the subject has become a civil rits issue. >> here's the civil rightse.

princi if you have a policy that y-fects one group in a far different more burdens, more obstacles-- than other groups, then you need to have a justification for choosing that policy. the arbitrariness of imposing an algebra 2 hurdle is sproportionately painful to poor kids, and to minority kids, the kids who are less likely to have had effective math instruction. >> sreenivasan: edy, the former dean of the university of california berkeley school of icw, who got his undergraduate degree in mathemats, says colleges should assess math requirements for students who do not plan to maj in the stem fields. >> they're not really based on ceiden it's really an agreement about what it means to be an educated person, and a century ago, it was greek and latin. today, it's apparentlyhe quadratic formula. i appreciate the importance of

math more than most, but i also appreciate the importance of opportunity. >> sreenivasan: not all educators want to do away with algebra 2 requirements. >> algebra 2 is pretty abstract, but i'm a little bit leery of just kind of eliminating it. i think weeed to really think about who needs it, how it' being taught, how do we expose students to the content, regardless of what class they take. >> sreenivasan: as for citrus college, the number dents passing college credit math has doubled with the new classroom format, and jose ceballos is in the top of his class. for the pbs newshour, i'm harica sreenivasan, ifornia. >> woodruff: award-winning writer and hisrian jared diamond has spent his career studying the rise and fall of civilizations. in his latest book, he examinesl major geical events of the

recent past, looking for lessons that may help navigate an uncertain future. william brangham recently sat down with diamond to talk about it, for our latest installment of the "newshour bookshelf." >> brangham: the cliche says those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it, and in a very overt way, historian jared diamond, who also teaches geography at u.c.l.a., is trying the use history as a roadmap for the present. the book is called "upheaval: turning crisis." nations in in it diamond explains why he thinks the u.s. is on the brink of crisis, rising inequality, declining democracy, and a government seemingly incapddable ofssing our biggest challenges. and then using the examplings oo six other n that also dealt with major crises, including finland after it war with the soviet union, chile in the pinochet era, and postwar germany, diamond draws lessons from each country's success and suggests how we might do the

same today. jared diamond is best known for his book "guns, germ, and steel," which looked at why some societies thrive and some collapse. jared diamond joins me now. welcome to the news hour. >> thank you. it's pleasure to be with you. >> brangham: so your book uses the example of these tions and then compares their response to these crises, but you use a measure how human beings, how invidual people respond to personal crises. i was sort of struck by that as a lens to look at how a nation looks through its own crises. why did you choose that lens? >> i chose that lens beause my ife marie is a clinical psychologist who did a year specialty in a branch of psychotherapist called crisis therapy. instead of having several years to work r the person deals with a clientd for just six weeks, someone who has plunged into personal csis, which typically is breakup of a marriage, death of a loved one.

the person realizes that the way they operate is no longer working well. they have to change and they have to change fast, but also you can't operate in the vacuum. i realize that the outcome predicted thpersonal crises suggests outcome predictions the national crises. >> brangham: really, how an individual human responds in a moment of crisis tracks in se meaningful way how a nation responds? >> partly yes and partly no. partly yes, the obvious cases are that we people get help from friends in a personal crisis. nations either do or don't get help from allies. people either accept responsibility or deny responsibility, in which case you don't deal with the crisis. natiither accept responsibility or think of the united states today, blame their problems on in this and mco rather than the united states. so there is a parallel. but there are also differences, of course, that we individuals do not have leaders and nations

have leaders. so personal crises are a starting point. l >> brangha's stay with that idea. how do you measure how the u.s.o is rding? first off, you move the u.s. is in a crisis or on the brink of a crisis? >> i would say we e spiraling into a crisis for obvious reasons that we've all noticed. the political polarization, the garage wall breakdown of democracy, which meas compromising where necessary, not having tyranny or the majority, congress passing fewer laws than in recent htory, all those are signs of the breakdown of democracy in the united states. >> brangha you argue in the book that political polarization is the single greatest thre to this coutry. why that? >> it's the threat that could end american democracy. i lived in the latin american country of chile in 1967, the most democratisouth american country. democracy ended there by a

military coup d'etat as an outcome of political eolarization. in the united stthere's political polarization today. the outcome in the u.s. will certainly not be military coup d'etat because the american army has never interfered. instead the end of democracy in the united states, if it happe would be by continuation of what we're seeing now, maybe parties in power locally or in a state preventing citizens likely to vote for the other side from registering to vote and a majority of american voters who can't be bothered to go to the polls and vote. >> if we don't like what our government is doingn, e havely ourselves to blame with those low voter turnouts. >> brangham: you book alsos deth what you would refer to and i think many people would believe as international crises, things that are beyond the borders of one nation, climate change is a perfect example, but the distinction crisis, the gobbling up of natural resources d,all over the wor with so many competing nation, with different inrests and fracous ideas and territorial governance, how

are we going to tackle those issues if we can't even gt our own house in order? >> that's a really interesting okestion. if you lgain at my chapter on problems of the world and imagine it's stopping six pages before it actually stops, it would be a pessimistic capter, and that was my first graph. but then i learned about the difficult problems that the world has resolved in the last 30 years, which gives me hope, the problem of cfcs being released into the atmosphere and destroying the ozone layr, delineating overlapping economic zones in shallow water, the elimination of smallpox. there is no smallpox in the world. the st smallpox cases were in somalia. ff the world has solved really ult problems, and that gives me hope that since we solved those we can also solave clte change, nuclear proliferation, sustainable resource use and inequalitan >> ham: so you really are optimistic, because your book, just as you sa does endon an

optimistic note, but the book is also full of these enormous seemingly intractable problems that you no one seems to be tackling in any serious way. >> it seems that no one is tacklim the any serious way, and yet the world problems, we havehis recent trk record, and lots of people are trying to tackle climate change, trying the tackle inequality. most of the book is about the problems. but the books endson n optimistic notes. people ask, are you an optormist a pessimist? the answer is i'm a cautious optimist. i ink chances are tt 51% will resolve our problems. but it depends entirely upon our choice. i don't know what people will choose. if people make the right choices, the chances are 99% that we will solve our problems. ism here's to optimism. the book is "upheaval: turning points for nations in crisis." jared diamond, thank you so much. >>hank you.

>> woodruff: finally, deepak chopra, the new age alternative n dicine doctor and philosopher, is the guestis week's "that moment when," newshour's facebook watch show. here is a preview of what he has to say. the human experience of the wod, is a perceptual experience in human consciousness. and, if life is consciousness, and consciousns is acausal-- without cause-- then death is an illusion. >> woodruff: and whileou're online, scientists used gene-editing to answer a long-hy held question:oes a snail's spiraling shell curve in a certain direction? we explore their findings, and uhy it matters, on our website, www.pbs.org/news

it's all importnant.th and that inewshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow eveofng. for all s at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teachesif real-lconversations in a new language, like spanish, itench, germanian, and more. >> consumer cellular. >> home advisor. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> the ford foundation. woing with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democrati engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org.>>

nd with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was madeco possible by thoration for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from vieu.rs like thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media cess group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

to & "amanpoucompany." here's what's coming up.>> so much pow e so many complaints. so, should giant tech companies be broken down to protect the greater good.m ined by erik schmidt. power and p iiticsthe court of king lear. legendary actress glenda jackson has been ting broadway by storm. then the new kid on the block,r 19-year-old direc phill phillip yumens makes history and sits