Lou Dobbs hits a new low

Date: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 6:04 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

by Rob Sanchez
August 17, 2005 No. 1317

The Lou Dobbs has pushed the education button before, but today's show hit a new low. It's the most biased, one-sided show I have ever seen him do. I challenge everyone to read the transcript below and find one person that questioned a single assertion made by the shortage shouters and those who claim that Americans are poorly educated.

I hope this show gets many of you very, very angry, because last time he pushed the education button nobody seemed to care. Very few answered my pleas to send emails to Dobbs to ask him to interview a dissenting opinion like Dr. Norm Matloff. If all of you accept this show and don't challenge it then we have truly lost the fight and might as well accept the fact that Americans don't deserve decent jobs. The education button is going to be used to push for more H-1Bs and nobody seems to have the courage to question the propaganda.

The second to the worst part of the show featured Paul Peterson from Harvard University. He uses the education issue to shill for more H-1B visas, even though he never said "H-1B". This guy was worse than Harris Miller! Lou Dobbs didn't even blink an eye, and Bill Tucker had an opportunity to at least add some of his usual cynicism to those claims, but instead both of them accepted what that shill said as gospel truth and went on with their slanted report on education.

PAUL PETERSON, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: There is a shortage of talent
in the United States today of top-level talent. There's a big
shortage. We need to bring people in from around the world.
And now after 9/11, with all the concern about passports and
visas and all of that, it's getting harder to bring people in
from abroad, and so business is feeling very pinched.

These comments followed Peterson's pitch for H-1Bs, and as you will note neither Dobbs nor Tucker questioned anything. You have to wonder if the show was unrehearsed so they read verbatim off a teleprompter that had been hacked by the ITAA. (Yesterday the Dobbs computers were infected by a worm so this is a possibility.) Dobbs thinks he knows what Peterson said, but he obviously didn't have a clue, or perhaps Tucker was too close to blurting out the truth and that's why Dobbs cut him off.

DOBBS: Paul Peterson at Harvard just saying something that's
remarkable, because it really betrays a suggestion that our
institutions of higher education have been depending on foreign
students to make up for the failure of American students.

TUCKER: Well, I think what Paul is trying to say there is ...

DOBBS: I know what he's trying to say, but that's what he's
portraying is that expectation. So now, because we have issue,
we'd better start looking to ourselves.

TUCKER: Exactly.

DOBBS: One would hope. Bill Tucker, thank you.

In case you think the Dobbs show can't get worse, let me assure you it can! Dobbs repeats the totally false assertion that we don't have enough people who have received math and science educations. I hope you are as stunned as I am with the following statement by Dobbs, because he is admitting that he agrees with the shortage shouters. Perhaps Dobbs should rename his show the "Harris Miller Puppet Hour"!

DOBBS: Dick, many -- we've reported on this broadcast constantly,
and for years, that we're not preparing our young people with
educations in mathematics and science.

It's almost as Dobbs used every single clichi discussed in my last newsletter "9 Annoying Articles". Of all the reporters on TV I would have expected Dobbs to be less gullible. He got duped big time!

Shame on Lou Dobbs!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/17/ldt.01.html

DOBBS: An astonishing indictment tonight of this nation's education system. According to a new study by ACT, the nation's leading college testing firm, roughly half of this year's high school graduates do not have the reading skills necessary to succeed in college. And shockingly, their math and science preparation is even worse. Bill Tucker reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They have their diplomas, but most of the high school graduating class of 2005 are not ready for college. Only half of the students taking the ACT college admission test were found the reading comprehension skills necessary for college, less than half had adequate math skills, and barely one- quarter are ready when it comes to college's level science.

MICHAEL PETRILLI, THOMAS B. FORDHAM FDN.: You know, we've known this for years and years. It's like someone's pulling a fire alarm but nobody's moving. This is very serious. We have greater and greater competition from around the world. Other countries are taking academics very seriously. They're making sure that their students are taking rigorous courses, and we're simply not doing enough.

TUCKER: Only 56 percent of high school students take or exceed the recommended core curriculum for college-bound students, a number that has remained consistent for the last decade. Students, their parents and our schools are failing to recognize that we are now locked in a global competition. That failure has consequences.

PAUL PETERSON, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: There is a shortage of talent in the United States today of top-level talent. There's a big shortage. We need to bring people in from around the world. And now after 9/11, with all the concern about passports and visas and all of that, it's getting harder to bring people in from abroad, and so business is feeling very pinched. It's really time for our educational system to step up.

TUCKER (on camera): And one other trend worth noting, more women than men are making plans to attend college. And Lou, that is a trend that is confirmed by more testing services, the ACT And SAT.

DOBBS: Paul Peterson at Harvard just saying something that's remarkable, because it really betrays a suggestion that our institutions of higher education have been depending on foreign students to make up for the failure of American students.

TUCKER: Well, I think what Paul is trying to say there is ...

DOBBS: I know what he's trying to say, but that's what he's portraying is that expectation. So now, because we have issue, we'd better start looking to ourselves.

TUCKER: Exactly.

DOBBS: One would hope. Bill Tucker, thank you.

We'd like to know what you think about this shocking new data on the state of our educational system, our public educational system. Do you believe Congress, state and local politicians are doing enough to address the urgent educational needs of this country?

We know the roles of educators and parents are critical, as well as the students themselves. But tonight let's just focus on Congress, state and local politicians, whether they're doing enough to deal with this urgent, educational crisis.

Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results later here.

And now joining me to discuss ACT's latest report card on the state of our educational system, is Dick Ferguson. He is the chief executive officer of ACT, joining us from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Dick, good to have you here.

RICHARD L. FERGUSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ACT: Thank you, Lou.

DOBBS: As Bill Tucker reported, this is astonishing that fewer than half of those taking this test are likely to succeed in college. How concerned are you?

FERGUSON: We are deeply concerned by the issue that we're facing as a nation, Lou. The data that we have, are predicated on the actual performances of students over the last several years, as we look to their readiness to take the entry-level college courses that most freshmen students do take.

There is some good news. The good news is that we see increases in the number of minority youngsters who are aspiring to college, and certainly increase in students as a whole looking to attend college. So that is a good thing. But we need to get them prepared for the work that they're going to face when they get there.

DOBBS: Absolutely. And to be clear, it's possible to infer from what you just said, that those minority students are not performing as well as they have in the past. That's not really the case, is it?

FERGUSON: No, it's not. Actually we have seen some increases in the performance of our minority youngsters, increases in our Hispanic population of ACT tested students, and their scores have increased over time. DOBBS: And men and women in this country have traditionally tested fairly even. But men testing higher in science and women in, if you will, verbal, does that remain the case?

FERGUSON: That does remain the case to this day. And that, of course, reflects course-taking behaviors on the part of students. You know, our really serious problem, Lou, has mostly to do with the absence of the course-taking in math and science in the high school years.

DOBBS: Kids running from math and science in point of fact?

FERGUSON: We're simply seeing a decline in the number of students who are taking those higher courses which are so key to their readiness for college and ultimately, their readiness for careers in those high-tech fields and so forth where there are great opportunities in the future.

DOBBS: Dick, many -- we've reported on this broadcast constantly, and for years, that we're not preparing our young people with educations in mathematics and science. But when you talk about reading comprehension falling to the levels that you are reporting and describing here, that's also extraordinarily troubling.

We hear lots of debates about the No Child Left Behind, about the importance of various programs in public education. But public education in this country, based on what you're saying, is literally failing a generation of our young people.

FERGUSON: We have a big challenge ahead of us. And it's not a universal one. We have school districts that are performing extremely well, doing the work that they need to do. There are those that lack the resources to do their job in an effective manner. So we clearly know we have our work cut out for us.

Now, the federal government, with its No Child Left Behind program, is taking a step to improve youngsters' performance in our K through eight sector. And we're seeing results from that. What we hope is ultimately that that will in fact pay off in the future. That will require, however, that youngsters make the right decisions when they're in middle school and moving into high school.

DOBBS: And have the right teachers with the necessary backgrounds in science and mathematics to teach compellingly those subjects to young people, right?

FERGUSON: And as you know, that is a major issue in the fact that we have unfortunately, far too many young people who are in classrooms, particularly in the math and science areas, where often the teachers are not certified in those fields. That is a challenge that our schools face. And we're going to have to help them with that.

DOBBS: Well, thank you for helping us understand the dimension of the problem, and focusing the national attention upon this critical issue. Dick Ferguson, the CEO of ACT. Thanks for being here. FERGUSON: Thank you, Lou.

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