captioning sponsored by ll newshour productions oo >> woodruff: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 thninsula. then, "fighting fofuture." concerns abound over a chinese mobile phone giant's push to control the next generation of mobile technology. plus, "rethinking college." how a new law in california is revamping the state's math curriculum to prevent students from dropping out. >>sath stops tens of thousa of students, who would otherwise do fine in college, from getting to the goal line. >> woodruf all that and more,

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-pland. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> ordering takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> planning 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 consumercellular.tv >> for projects around the house, home adviser helps find local pros to do the work. you cabook appointments with pros online at homeadviser.com. home adviser is proud to support

pbs newshour. >> babbel. a language program that teaches geanish, french, italian, an, and more. >> bnsf railway >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made ssible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs statio thank you.rs like you. >> woodruff: president trumpay s g down the current trade standoff with china, and playing up prospects of a deal. the two nations have fired offw lvos of tariffs on billions of dollars in goods. but, mr. trump insisted today that his relationship with chinese president xi is "extraordinary," and he insisted that the trade negotiations have not collapsed. >> we're having a little

squabble with china, because we've been treated very unfairly for many, many decades, for acally a long time. we are again in a very, very strong positio 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,ow to fightto he finish. leaders in the u.s. and iran appeared today to try to ease rising tensions in that part the world. state tv quoted grand ayatollah ali khamenei as saying, "this is not a military confrontation because no war is going to happ." and, president trump dismissed a 0,ew york times" report that the u.s. might send 0 troops to the middle east if iran

attacks. we will delve into all of this, after the news summary. the president's son, donald trump jr., will testify before 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. meanwhile, it is also reported that u.s. attorney general william barr has appointed a federal prosecutor to review the origins of the probe into russian interference in 2016. y john durham, in connecticut, will focus on whether surveillance of the trump campaign was proper. secretary of state mike pompeo carried a warning today to russia, ov intruding in u.s. elections. meeting in sochi, foreign minister sergei lavrov again denied interfering in the 2016 presidential campaign. pomp pointed to potential trouble in two years. >> iade clear to foreign minister lavrov, as we've made clear for the past months, that interference in american elections is unacceptable.

if the russians were engaged in that in 2020, it would put our relationship in an even worse place than it has been. and encourage them not to do that, that we would not tolerat. th >> woodruff: pompeo also met with president vladimir putin,ed who welche results of the mueller report. he said it showed thre was no collusion between russian officials and the trump campaign. governor of florida says russian hackers broke into voter databases in two of the state's counties before the 2016 election. ron desantis spoke today, after a briefing by the f.b.i. and the depa of homeland security. he said the hackers sed not comprohe election results. tement later, the f.b.i. confirmed that assessment. montana governor steve bullock has joined the 2020 democratic presidential field. the 53year-old bullock announced today. he cast himself as a centwirist

who cain states like montana, which president trump carried in 2016. he joins a packed field of 22 democratic candidates. in the philippines, it appears president rodrigo duterte's allies have won big in this week's midterm elections. unofficial results show them taking half the seats in the philippine senate, wnthere oppohave blocked some of duterte's policies. the vote was seen as a referendum on duterte's violent anti-drug crackdown and his embrace of china. back in this country, wall street rebounded a bit from monday's sell-off. the dow jones industrial average gained 207 points to close at 25,532. the 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 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 longtime champion of reining in the federal debt, as lo the newshour in 2012: >> we can't fix th-run problem of the deficit by just cutting spending, and we can't fix it by just raising taxes. we've got to do some of each. but in a gradual way, over time, and in a much more intelligent way. >> woodruff: alice rivlin was 88 years old. and, comedian tim conway died today in los angheeles. ot his first break, in the 1960s, on tv's "mchale's navy," as a bumbling, world war ii ensign. and came a long stint on "the carol burnett show" that earned him four emmy awards. in later years, he voiced barnacle boy on the "spongebob squarepants" series. tim conway was 85 years old. r:ill to come on the newsh tensions rise in the persian

gulf, as the u.s. blames iran for damaged oil tankers.se the f chinese cellphone giant 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 relationship between the united esstnd iran has become even more tense. administration officials have warned that they would rpond with "unrelenting force" to any iranian attack. tehran has threaned to exce caps on its nuclear program. and today, saudi arabia says that rebels in yemen, believed to be backed by iran, staged a major attack. e our nick schifrin is herwith an update. >> schifrin: hormuz strait of hormuz

hello, nick. >> hi, judy. >> nawaz: what do we know? >> the saudis are accuseing t howities of launching an armed drone against twopiaudi pg stations inside saudi arabia and they did claim credit for this one. s saudi officis, this is a game changer. ev have seen attacks before, but we haver seen an attack with this level of precision, never flown so far from thir bases in yemen with an armed drone, and they have flavor hit state-owned oil targets with such success according to a saudi official. a former u.s. intelligence official with experience manyia saudi arays, let's take this with a grain of salt. they have attacked oil lities in saudi arabia before and they have flown this far into saudi arabia. saudi arabia just doesn't make those attacks publicly usually. thisttack was close to riyadh, the capital of saudi arabia. it was by a group that even th

u.n. says receives weapons or missile parts from iran itselha, and ira vowed to attack saudi arabia some we're getting a lot of concern from both saudi and u.s. officials today. >> nawaz:. >> wdruff: no this w the second attack? >> an take on four oil tankers on sunday morning, three of them against iranian enemy, against saudi arabia and tankers. we don't know a lot about this tank, but according to u.s. and saudi ficials, it was relativelily sophisticated. the u.s. officials i'm talking ro say they believe -- they believe -- that ian or its proxies were behind not only that attack against the tanks, but also this drone attack in saudi arab,ia. buudy, i will say, they will not give me that proof. they d't have any or they simply won't share it yet. >> woudruff: i knowre talking to a lot of people. what do the ones who follow iran say about why iran would be doing this right now if thg 're do? >> we don't know that they're

doing it. iran does deny they're doing it. but i have talked to a lot of people, and they say iran is facing a lot rn exte 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 idethat iran would benefit economically. iran has not received those benefits. the economy is doing poorly. so what these offils i talked to say, this is a way to resist all of that extnal s. pressure. and also a way to relieve some of thern inte pressure to perhaps rally around the flag. one u.s. official i talked to put hit the way. this is iran ratcheting up its resistance. but in a way that allows themde plausiblability, we're generally talking about proxies here, and in a way that doesn't create a direct conflict wie h ited states. >> woodruff: but at this point no sign that the u.s. inis pull back on this pressure campaign against iran? >> quite the opposith.

are increasing the pressure campaign. 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 it right there, four b-52 bombers that accompanied that carrier group, an amphibious warship in addition to what you are looking at, therd e antriot missile batteries on the way. these are assets that have been in the middle east in the past. the u.s.ar has been fighting in the middle east, much less today some these assets have beenhere in the past. this is not a huge ratcheting up of deployments by the u.s. but obviously it's sending a message ton that white house officials say the message is deterrence. also sending a message, a "new york times" article tod that said, 120,000 troops would be considered sent by the united states to the gion if there is any iranian attack, but first let's listen to what president trump had to say when askedat about rticle this morning.

>> i think it's fake news.ld now, w do that? absolutely. but we have not planned for that. hopefully we will not pln for that. if we did, that we'd send a hell of a lot more troops thathat. >> so u.s. officials say they that meeting did happen. this discussion didplace. but 120,000 troops is one of many con.ngencies that the u could use depending on what happens and that they've made absolutely no decisions yet. but it's c 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 increas threatgainst 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 cononfronta between the u.s. and iran right now, and it appears to be gettinworse.

>> woodruff: we need to continue asking questions, which i know you will continue to do. >> we will continue to do so. >> woodruff: nick schifrin, thank you. >> woodruff: for months, theni trump adration 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, trump administrations officials were on capitol hill today once again awking the case against huawei. >>: when the senate judiciary committee convened today, it was clea"5that so-calle 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, and, they said, china's in the lead. democratic senator chris coons of delaware: >> the very real potential that china will be the winner in this 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 rapiy. 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 the facilities on the bus. the 5g era is coming. >> nawaz: but the trump esministration argues that chtech giant huawei is susceptible to state pressure. american officials he barred huawei from u.s. govcoernment

racts, 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? th is exactly what china wants. they want to divide western alliances through bits and bytes, not bullets and bombs. >>icawaz: chinese offls dismiss western fears and say 5g, by definition, needs global cooperanion. >> ( ated ): in the era of globalization, the development opd utilization of 5g depends on the exchange and ation the attempts to introduce political ctors into 5g development, utilization and cooperation, politicize the related issues or adopt >> nawaz: amid the back-and- forth, ajit pai, the crair of the fecommunications commission, told the newshour last month that he believes the 5g race 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 5g. for example, cisco recently put out a repo suggesting that

north america-- led, of course, by the united states-- would have twice as many 5g connections as asia by 2022. nawaz: in the meantime, huawei insists it is independent, and itshairman pledged today to sign no-spying agreements with other countries. and with me now is ambassador robert strayer. he is deputy assistant secretary of 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 m past year trying to get the allies to shun huawei. what is that argument you're making to other countries? >> right. we're talking about the importance of 5g technology, that it's going to bring a whole new level of prosperity to our society. it's going to empower all kinds of thing like telemedicine, autonomous transportation syomem, including autos vehicles, as well as empower that critical infrastructure we have today, such as electricity distribution. important it a ve part of our lives. so we're talking to these countries about the need to also

have it be a secure type of technolo o. it's becauall those important things that ride on it that it needs to have the highest level o security. that requires looking at the supply chain of the even. .. that will provide tharlt unng 5g infrastructure. so we say you need to look at the country from whch 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 disrupte that would cause your electricity to be disruptedded or your provision of water or sewer or other important critical services that the blic needs to have available. it also would provide the opportunity for a foreign power to conduct espionage on tho.se networ >> nawaz: these are specific concerns you have about the chinese government and their fluence over huaw is. that what you're saying? >> that's exactly right. >> nawaz: that argument 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 otherations.

no one else has signed on to the ban at that conference. whisn't that argument working? >> so our diplomatic plan is first to get countries to acknowledge there a risk regarding the supply chain. there is not a country out therr 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 their 5g network. we have been successful in that ergard. we have seen a nuof countries implement bans 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 lo of education. it's going to be a long-term process as we see 5g o bui 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.l only hand countries have signed on, not a single european country. in fact, brigesh intele has now said they think they can mitigate the risk, whatever risk huawei presents. why isn't the u.s. argument landing with your allies?

>> well, i think it is landing in the sense they're acknowledging the sy risk that's at stake. it's one of the top priorities for sectary pompeo and for the rest of us in the administration to make sure we're continuing to educate our partners an allies about the risks at place herehe. atnd of the day, it's going to be their own 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 to take 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 risk when you rigorously supply 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 tonc inflthe vendor, when you apply those, there is no way you

should have hwei in your government's network. >> nawaz: do you think the u.s. has a credibility problem making this argument at this time? there are strained r with our allies and the trump. the warning is beware, this country could spy on you, when the u.s.'s own spyingrogram s been laid bare. does that complicate your job? >not at all. we have frank conversations with our partners about security concer. this is particularly focused just on security. that's an easy conversation for us to have with othe 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 tow woh the government. a spokesman said they would be willing to sign a noee-spy agnt. could there be a meeting halfway, a compromise, or will the u.s. only pport an all-out ban? >> that's a completely feckless point to make on their part. there is no differentiation between thprivate sector in

companies and the government in china. the vernment through the national intelligence wall and other walls at its disposal can compel companies to take act ni. there way for that company to object. there is no such thing as inpendent judicial redres they are subject completely to the direction of the chinese come -- communist party so it's impossible for an official to say they won't do this because they can be ordethd next day to do so by the chinese communist party and xi jinping. >> nawaz: in some ways calling for a ban is aressing 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.el it'sble, 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? >> first, we would say there is no reason you would fall behind technologically by going with

something that's more trusted bg the gear b provided by erikson, nokia and samsung. their technology is just as goo without the risk. t nawaz: huawei is the clear global leader riw. >> when you look at the number of trials in the field, there is more de by erikson than even huawei. over time we'll see much more development in the field. we shouldn't be rushing out ere to choose the cheapest alternative right now. the other companies are going t provide increasing amounts of pability on their systems. >> nawaz: robert strayer, thank you very much for being here.u >> thank or having me. >> woodruff: stay with coming up on the newshour: one-on-one with democratic rpresidential candidate tn. how california 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 "ueaval." even as china and the u.s. are still trying to reach a trade deal before the summer, the stakes and the tension just keep growing. china retaliated this week with the threat of raising s own tariffs on u.s. goods, and that was followed by president trump's latest threat that he may raise tariffs on another $300 bil goods.th of chinese workers, jobs and wages are of course at the heart of this. 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 retaliatioby china, as we said, are making a lot of people nervous.

what is your vie? >> my view is we need tariffs agaid t china. we n strategic way the use them, because we really have to level e playing field with china. they have had it one way all this 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 hug billion-person country. that's not happening. we're being blocked out right now. that's what this tde war is about, about opening their market so we can sell our products thereth. an'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 ideal sese, buts 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 to cost productivity for years to come. >> brangham: we have heard, that but w also say, why can't we buy american goodsca wht we basically food

goods that are made here. many goods are made here. let's put americans to work. i buy american.ts let's buy prodade here, made in maybe canada where we have people who are friendly to us that are not hostile to us with regard to trade. let's put people here in e united stas back to work. >> woodruff: but james hoffa, you know very well the reason so many of these products an their manufacturers have moved to china is because tey are abl to make these goods in a much cheaper way. americans are able to buy the same products they used to buy made in the u.s., but they are much less expensive. so what you're talking about is asking americans to pay more for the same goods. >> you might payk a few bs more, so you pay 20 cents more for a t-shirt. if you're pengon somebody to work, isn't that a good idea? we can't be driven by this idea of, oh, it's cheaper in china, and let them get away with everything. we have to penetrate that market. why are we not selling over there? why are they not buying our good

products? they are laws against it. they're stealing our intellectual pro they're imprisonning a million people in concentration cas. they have gone wild over there. we have to get them back to our senses. i think one way is thitrade war to say, look, get back to your senses.an weto be trading partners with you, and you have to open your markets. othink this is a way to 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 sd 20 cents on a t-shirt. the reality is that the exper that have looked at this are saying the cost of washing machines, of clothing, of food items could go uponiderably, and how do you defend that to working americans who ar basically living from paycheck to paycheck? >> well, i they take the company like whirlpool and put a company here, a factory here, with americans rking there, making those whirlpool machines, making thoe washing machines?

wouldn't that be a good idea? basically start making things here. we don't make things in this country 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 hee. and this is one way to do it. if we make those products here, and we export them to other parts of the world, maybe not china, that will work. but the idea i can get itea r from china can't be the only determining factor with regard our relationship with china. >> woodruff: i know you have amstudied labor history,es hoffa. you know that in most instances what happens is that jobs... manufacturing is going to go to places that say, we will do a great job of making this item, but 're going to do it for less. peoplethon't wan pay more if they can get the same thing, a qualititem, but pay lfor it. >> that's what's been driving us for the past ten years, and look where we're. a we have trade deficits with everybody. yes, we get a few cheaper products here, but we don't make anythinhere in america.

we're hallowing out our economy. for the short-term gain, we're basically losing our that's why we have a wage slippage. people don't make the kind of money they should be making here.'t we dave manufacturing jobs. we're hallowing out our economy by being slaves to basice ally saving sney on a bike or some toi ys. ink that's wrong. we have to reassess how we look at thingto say, do 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 someone's budget. are your members saying they are willing to pay more for the goods they need for their family? >> i think our members will stick with us to say, we want to have good jobs. our mbers have good jobs. our members are working hard. they make good money. they have healthcare.ey ave pensions. they're the middle class. we have to have more people in theiddle class, more people like the teamsters and organized labor. that's what's wrg with this

country right. now we've hallowed out our economy where we basally have people working for nothing or basically working for $11 an hour with no benefits. and working for 20 hours a week. that's what's wrong with the economy. they're basically peoplegr eling to buy these cheaper products that come from china. that's not the erican way. i want to turn this thing around. i want to basically have people making things here, exporting things, putting people to work. let's put america back to work. >> woodruff: an your meers are prepared to pay higher prices? >> if they have to. >> woodruff: and they're not rried about losing their jobs? >> well, they're not going to lose their jobs. igour people are working now. our people are working right now. we have a robust economy. i don't see ts as being td to losing their jobs. i think this is going to be short term. number one, i think people are overreacting to this entire affairoi i think it's to be overwith soon. i think somebody is going to blink here, because china has so much more to lose than we do. they have five to one with regard therade. people talk about soybeans.

they are selling so much stuff to us, they cannot afford to lose this battle. and they have to bascally have it so they can keep selling stuff here, but they have to open their markets to do that. it has to be an equal trade. we sell to them, thesell to us. that is our goal. >> woodrufof jama, president of the teamsters, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: tim ryan has long been considered a rising star in the democratic party. he was just 29 years old when he was firselected to congress in 2002, representing youngstown, ohio, a working-class town hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs. he gained nationalttention in 2016, when he challenged nancy pelosi for her leadership position. today, he is one of more than

20 democrats running for his party's presidential nominati. tim ryan, welcome to the program. >> thanks. >> woodruff: so let's start with china 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 playifeel? >> i think that tariffs are act that need to be utilized when china is cheating, and they do cheat. they cheat with intellectual property. they've dumped steel tubing in districts like mine for a long time. we need to have those tariffs utilized to remedy that. but it needs to be part of larger strategy. that's the problem with the president. one , y they're 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 dealinith by actually having a industrial

policy in the united states. >> woodruff: what does that mean? >> that means that are industries that are growing. at 25 or 30%. b we have ld our way out of this thing. electric vehicles. there is one 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 >> woodruff: but if your own district, the 13th district of ohio, the general motors plant, as we know, a lot of distress over the fact that tha shut down. 1,600 jobs i believe it was. th were makingome electric vehicles, but that portion of vehicle manufacturing just hasn't taken off yet in this countr >> well, there is no industrial policy. we were making the chevy cruze. if i were president, i would sit down with the big three automakers and emerging companies dealing with those kind of electric vehicles, the department of energy. there are programs tha the president has zeroed our around epectric vehicles. the transportationtment,

the venture capital community. let's dominate this. this haspe to hat the white house level. this has to happen in the oval office. and we're not getting that kd of live. that's how you beat china. >> woodruff: let's just back up. how are you different? what makes tim ryan stand out om the other 20-some democrats who are running for president. >> because i have been at the epicenter of de-industrialization in the united states of america. when jobs are lost, i'm at the union hall. i know people in these ctories. i know -- they're my family. they're my friends. we've been dealing with this for rightars, and i've been ther what makes me different is that i have that experience, but also that i he been thinking about how the heck do we get out of this mess. >> woodruff: but you, with all due respect, you haven't been able to stop the collapse of so much of the manufacturing sector. >> that's why i'm running for president. g because itng to take presidential leadership, and quite frankly, both partys havel to address the implosion of these communities. we started down the road ofat

globaln, automation. no one ever thought about the workers. they have been forgotten. unheard and unseen. president trump came in and swept in, and they voted for m, because -- >> woodruff: and right now the economy is doing well and the iresident is saying, it's because of my pcies. >> no, there is no shot. look, the stock market is as high as is ever been. the unemployment rate is low. people are still struggling. workers are still struggling, white, black, brown, gay, straight. they're surviving. they can barely keep 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 untry 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 than you. aboutl, this election is the future, and i will tell you that i understand what's happening inhe economy right

now, and i understand the direction we need to go in. we need to get in front of these grow industries, electric vehicles is one, solar, windid, ve manufacturing, a.i., artificial intelligence. we've goto dominate these. in the 1970s when thel stee mills closed, the technology in those steel mills was preworld war i, we'rat the same point now. we can be afraid of these technologies and we can dominatm infuse them into these industries and cut these workers t on the deal. that's how we wie future in the united states. >> woodruff: let me ask you quickly about a couple of other issues. the environment, you have take an moreinro bess approach than some of your democratic competitors.o you havet fully embraced the green new deal. what are you saying needs to be done differently about this? >> i embrace a green new deal. i justhink we have to have public-private partnerships if we're going to get there. we have to align the environmental incentivesith e financial incentives. if we don't have the profit motive, help in the ingenuity

and the innovation tha from our capitalistic system aligned with fixing the tvironment, it's going te us forever to do it. the department of energy has some role. government has somt role. can't be a centralized plan. vaw do we get pri investment, venture capital ramping these things up and build ou tway out s, electric vehicles, solar, wind. these are the industries that are growing. you n put workers to work like jimmy hoffa's people, and decarbonze the american ecoybnoy and evy wins. it seems to me like it makes a lot of sense. >> woodruff: another issue where you seem to sd out from your democratic competitors is immigration. you have said democra can't go into ohio, the great lakes region of this country, and ask hrkers to be wit them unless they think about border security. >> yeah. >> woodruff: making people rand thhildren feel safer. so what would you do differently? about the border? >> on the immigration i'm lock ep with all progressives new

york question about it. we need to have a comp paionate immigration system. we should accommodate refugees. we should have pathway to citizehip. i'm 1,000% for all that. but if the american people wan t know that you're also going to protect them. we have an opioid crisis in ohio. people are dying left and right, anave 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 using ee old l tariffs, old economy, old approach for globlization. he's using the wall is his technique for border security. you need more dogs. the ports of entry, more border patrol. there are all kinds of technology we can use to make sure this haoens. you haveave a better relationship with mexico, and quite frankly, you needto 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 goes to the heart of the problem. go to the heart of the proem

and solve it there so we're not dealing with it on our 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 class. many students still take those courses. creasingly, 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 pced in those courses go on to graduate ocomplete higher vel math. the numbers are even worse for studens of color. hari sreenivasan has a report for our special "rethinking colle" series, part of our regular "makinthe grade" segment.

nd>> sreenivasan: for thouof 'tllege students, like jose ceballos, this iust a math class. this is a way around a major roadblock to a college degree. e> i feel like my wh perception on math, like, just changed. >> sreenivasan: for decades, ceballos and others who did poorly in math weren't allowed to enroll in courses like these that count toward a bachelor's degree. instead, they were placed inle lol 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 poly tustitute found that only one in fournts in remedial math classes were passing. the very courses that were designed to get students college -ready had become barro a four-year degree. >> i took it six times, and i couldn't pass it. >> sreenivasan: the passing rate for minority stsudenike reina schmitz was particularly

troublg. one study showed only 2% of latino students and 1% of african american students in low-level remedial classes passed college math, two years after enrolling. >> they give up. they get discouraged. >> those remedial courses often were a trap. de sreenivasan: christopher edley is the pre of the opportunity institute. >> people would take them once, twice, three times, still not succeedi their financial aid eligibility, they'd get discouraged, they'd end up dropping out. m no question,h stops tens of thousands of students, who would otherwise do fine in college, from getting to the al line. >> sreenivasan: hoping to stop students from dropping out of colle, california legislators passed a new law that requires community colleges to offer alternatives to remedial classes, like the statistics class jose ceballo aends at citrus college. what's the difference now that you're dog?

>> what we're doing now is, we added an extra two units to the class. it is extra time. whatever algebra skills they need to be successful statistics, they get it right when we are teaching isstcs concepts. >> sreenivasan: dominguez alsode asks ss to set goals, reflect on their behavior, and help each other. >> how will you change your behaor? >> just positive thinking, not giving up when you fail. >> when we're learning something new, instead of beinglike, "oh, i don't understand," making myself more lost, so instead of ueing that, i should, like, go to tutoring or askions. >> sreenivasan: some parts of it almost seem like a bit of group therapy, when you're trying to deal with their phobiaath. >> 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: the 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 statistical questions with more than one variable. >> sreenivasan: at leuzooinger high s just outside of los angeles, daniel gavrilovic teaches an alternative mathro class called iction to data science, or i.d.s. >> this class was to say, let's look at math from a different perspective, create a new pathway for our students w may have historically struggled with math. your question is how age relates to music. >> sreenivasan: students use engaging data, often srveys about teenagers, to solve problems that also tell a story. >> what's your data question? >> "are vegetarians more likel t to drink watn juice?" >> ah, you want to filter out?

>> vegetarians, and the beverage. >> okay. >> sreenivasan: algebra and geometry are folded into the haory-line. >>we see in traditional math is, you know, "draw x+y+z" and "what's the slope" and "the intersection of the y 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 comup 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 rector. >> if a student takes i.d.s. and is successful, you'll get credit for passing gebra 1 and algebra 2, and algebra 2 is a big stumbling block for a lot of students. >> i hated aebra 2. like, it was the worst class ever, to me >> sreenivasan: christopher edley says algebra 2 is more than a stumbling blo. he says the subject has become a civil rights issue. >> here's the civil ghts

principle. if you have a policy that affects one group in a far different way-- more burdens, more obstacles-- than other groups, then you need to have a justification for chsing that policy. the arbitrariness of imposing an algebra 2 hurdle is dispportionately painful to poor kids, and to minority kids, the kids who are less likely to have had effective math instruction. >> sreenivasan: edley, the former dean of the university f california berkeley school of law, who got his undergraduate degree in mathematics, says colleges should resess math requirements for students who do not plan to major in the stem fields. >> they're not really based on evidence. 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 apparently t 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 justind of eliminating . i think we need to really think about who needs it, how it' being taught, how do we expose students to the content, regardless of what class they ke. >> sreenivasan: as for citrus college, the number of students passing college credit math has doubled with the new classroom format, and jose ceballos is inh top of his class. for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan, in california. >> woodruff: award-winning writer and histoan jared diamond has spent his career studying the rise and fall of civilizations. in his latest book, he examinest major geopal 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 bookslf." >> 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 alsoeaches geography at u.c.l.a., is trying the use history as a roadmap for the present. the book is called "upheaval: turning pots for nations in crisis." in it diamond explains why he thinks the u.s. is on the brink of crisis, rising inequality, and aning democracy, government seemingly incapable of addressing our biggest challenges. and then using the examplings os six other nat that also dealt with major crises, including finland after itsar with the soviet union, chile in the pinochet era, and postwar germany, diamond draws lessons from each country's success suggests how we might do the

same today. jared diamond is best known for his book "guns, germ, and" steeich looked at why some societies thrive and som collapse. jared diamond joins me now. welcome to the news hour. >> thank you. it's pleasure to be with you. oo>> brangham: so your uses the example of these nations and then compares their response to these crises, but you use as a measure how human beings, how individual people respond to personalrises. 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 tt lens? >> i chose that lens because my ife marie is a clinical psychologist who did a year specialty in a branch of psychothapist call crisis therapy. instead of having several years to work for e person deals with a clientd for just six weeks, someone who has plunged into personal crisis, 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. heey have to change andy have to change fast, but also you can't operate in the vacuum. i realize that the outcome predicted the peonal crises suggests outcome predictions the national crises. >> brangham: really, how an individual human responds in a moment of crisis tracks in some 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 fro allies. people either accept responsibility or deny responsibility, in which case you don't deal with the crisis.e nationither accept responsibility or think of the united states tay, blame their problems on can this and mexico rather than the united states. so there is a parallel. but there are alsdifferences, of course, that we individuals do not have leaders and nations

have leaders. so personal crises are a starting point.et >> brangham:s stay with that idea. now do you measure how the u.s. is resding? first off, you move the u.s. is in a crisis or on the brink of a crisis? >> i would say we are spiraling into a crisis for ous reasons that we've all noticed. the political polarization, the garage wall breakdown of democracy, which means compromising where necessary, not having tyranny or the majority, congress passing fewer laws than in recent history, all those are signs of the breakdown of democracy in the united stes. >> brangham: you argue in the book that political pola is the single greatest threat to this country. why that? >> it's the threat that could end american democracy. i lived in the latin american country of chile in967, the most democratic uth american country. democracy ended there by a

military coup d'etat as an outcome of political polarization. in the united states there's political polarization today. the olcome in the u.s. w certainly not be a military coup d'etat because the american army has never interfered. instead the end of demoincrac the united states, if it happen, would be by a 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 lls and vote. >> if we don't like what our government is doing, we have oly ourselves to blame with those low voter turnouts. >> brangham: you book alsowi deal what you would refer to and i think many people would believe as international c things that are beyond the borders of one nation, climate mple, but a perfect exa the distinction crisis, the gobbling up of natural resources all over the world, with so many compeation, with different interests and fractious ideas and territorial governance, how

are we going to tackle those t ours if we can't even ge own house in order? >> that's a really interesting gaestion. if you look at my chapter on problems of the worldnd imagine it's stopping six pages before it actually stops, it would be a pessimistic chapter, and that was my first graph. but then i learned about the difficulproblems 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 layer, delineating overlapping economic zones in shallow water, the elimination of smallpox. there is no smallpox in the world. the lass smallpox casere in somalia. so the world has solved really difficult problems, and that gives me hope that sce we solved those we can also solve climate change, nuclea proliferation, sustainable resource use and inequality. >> branham: so you really are optimistic, because your book, just as you say, ds end on an

optimistic note, but the book is also full of the enormous seemingly intractable problems that you no one seems to be tackling in any serious way. >> it seems that no one is tackling them in any serious way, and yet the world problems, we have this recent track record, and lots of peop are trying to tackle climate change, trying the tackle inequality. most of the book is about the problems. but the books ends non optimistic notes. people ask, are you an optimist ora pessimist? the answer is i'm a cautious optimist. i think chances are that 51% will resolvour 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: tu ning points fions in crisis." jared diamond, thank you so much. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: finally, deepak chopra, the new age alternative medicine doctor and philosopher, is the guest on this 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 world, is a perceptual experience in human consciousness. and, if life is consciousness, and consciousness is acausal-- without cause-- then death is an illusion. >> woodruff: and while you're online, scientists used gene-editing to answer a long- held question: why does a snail's spiraling shl curve in a certain direction? o explore their findings, and why it matters, website, www.pbs.org/newshour.

it's all importnant. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and ain here tomorrow evening. for all of us 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 teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> consumer cellular. >> home advisor. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> the ford foundation. workg with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic emengement, and the advanc of international peace and security. at carnegie.org.nd

>>ith the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions t pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by nehour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

hi. i'm rick bayless, and i've been exploring, cooking, and eating in mexico for over 40 years. now i'm taking you to mexico city for a deep dive into the classic dishes you've asked to learn. it's time ev share my best recipe. announcer: "mexico one plate at a time" is made possible by these funders.