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How is an Interview on Fox Business News Like the MA Orals?

by Susan Ohanian

Eons ago, the protocol was that some time before one presented oneself for the MA orals in the English Department at the University of California, Berkeley, the candidate introduced herself to the various members of the committee. When I appeared before the 18th century expert on my committee, he asked me to name my strengths and my weaknesses.

I named Samuel Johnson as my strength and Alexander Pope as my weakness. He took notes, and I thought, “How decent. He’s trying to give me a leg up on the exam.”

On the day of the exam, the 18th Century expert asked me lots of questions about Alexander Pope and none about Samuel Johnson. And I had the distinct feeling that his questions were intended not to engage me in dialogue but to show off his wit to other members of the committee. If I looked foolish, so be it. Certainly his intention was not to let me shine in the best light possible. Leave that sort of thing to primary grade teachers, not to august professors.

Or TV hosts.

The other day, the set-up person at Fox Business News who arranged all the details for an interview centering, she told me, on my book Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools? phoned and asked questions about who the Business Roundtable were, details about TIMMS and PISA international exams, and so on.

So I boned up on these details, making sure I had a clear, concise explanation.

I drove in a snowstorm to the local Fox TV station, where I was hooked up to a microphone and an earpiece that kept falling out of my ear and sat. . . for 56 minutes waiting for my chance for fame. Some distant voice from New York occasionally asked if I could hear the ongoing show, and when I'd reply, "barely," everybody ignored the problem. I figured I was supposed to suck it up, and I did.

The hostess opened the interview by repeating the stale canard about banks not being able to find hirees with enough skills to be tellers. I replied that maybe the banks aren’t paying a high enough wage.

She said wages definitely aren't the problem, that the banks are in the South and the schools there simply do not produce enough qualified workers.

This story has been repeated so many times that it has the aura of an Urban Legend. And I don’t believe it.

The hostess threw out more accusations about public schools. There was no conversation, no opportunity to talk about what I know. When I told her our colleges produce three times as many science and engineering graduates as there are new jobs, she changed the subject.

Going in, I suspected I had been invited to the show solely as a foil for the Fox predetermined negative spin on US public schools. But I admit I thought I'd have a better chance at saying something.

I was wrong.

This is not the first time this has happened to me. People keep advising me that one goes on such a show with prepared soundbites. Regardless of what sound bites the host issues, the guest should just throw out some of her own, ones that matters to The Cause.

Trouble is, my years as a teacher taught me to be a good listener. I’m used to listening to people and trying to respond to the occasion. I’m not good at ignoring the other party and reciting soundbites.

And my book? They tell me they showed the cover as they introduced me. The hostess never referred to it.

And so I feel as though I just endured my MA orals all over again. At least the Fox News deal lasted only a couple of minutes.


— Susan Ohanian
Vermont Commons blog
2008-01-14


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