Prison University Gives Inmates Hope

    A college education is out of reach for most state and federal prisoners. California’s San Quentin is one of the few prisons in the country that offers college-level courses.
    Jody Lewen has run the facility’s college program for over a decade and she's the reason that the Prison University Project exists today.
    Taking chargeWhen Lewen joined San Quentin's college program in 1999 as a volunteer instructor¹, it was run by a small volunteer(志愿者) staff with no budget. At that time, she was a graduate student, with plans to return to academic research. But a year later, when the part-time director suddenly quit, Lewen found herself in charge.
    "I thought for a long time it was just temporary and that somebody else was going to keep the program running," she says. "But once I started doing the work and got more deeply involved, I also began to see the potential（潜能可能性） the program had. And I started to think more and more about what this program could become. There was nobody else to run it. And I thought it would just be one of those failures for the rest of my life if I let it fold.
    Expanded programUnder Lewen’s leadership, the Prison University Project has expanded, now offering 20 classes in English, math, the humanities, social science and Spanish. Three hundred inmates² enroll³ every semester, earning college credits which can lead to an associate of arts degree. Lewen has recruited more than 150 volunteer teachers and graduate students from nearby colleges and universities. She says attracting teachers is not difficult, although some of the new instructors⁴ are nervous their first time at San Quentin.
    "When I talk to people about this work, very often they assume that the students are very aggressive and very difficult, all the stereotypes⁶ people have in their minds about people who are incarcerated," says Lewen. "They assume they're a lot of troublemakers⁷ and are goofing⁸ off and they don't want to do their work. That stereotype⁵ has nothing to do with reality."Sookyoung Lee teaches a class on critical thinking and research. She finds her students are curious and engaged.
    "I'm super surprised at how nice the students are. Most of the times, students are extremely respectful, way more motivated than the Cal undergrads," says Lee. "It's always a pleasure for the teachers when the students are not taking learning for granted."Hope for the futureCharles Spence is serving a life sentence in San Quentin and has a few more courses left to finish his associate's degree. He hopes to be paroled some day and wants to earn his master's degree in psychology⁹.
    Jody Lewen has run San Quentin's Prison University Project for over a decade.
    "I remember one student saying to me 'This college program is the best drug treatment program in the world.' And it was interesting because at first I really didn't understand what he meant," says Lewen. "And he was just saying 'This program gives you hope and to stay clean and to live a healthy life, you need to have hope.'"The Prison University Project survives on donations and foundation grants and receives no government funding. Lewen would like to see college programs in every prison but without government support, it's not likely to happen any time soon. In the meantime, there's a long waiting list of San Quentin prisoners who want to enroll in the college program. Some day, Lewen hopes to expand her program, making a college education available for most of the 5,500 prisoners currently housed at San Quentin.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

2 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

4 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

5 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

6 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 troublemakers   

n.惹是生非者，捣乱者( troublemaker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was employed to chuck out any troublemakers. 他受雇把捣乱者赶走。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers. 她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 goofing   

v.弄糟( goof的现在分词 )；混；打发时间；出大错

参考例句：

• He should have been studying instead of goofing around last night. 他昨晚应该念书，不应该混。 来自走遍美国快乐40招
• Why don't you just admit you're goofing off? 偷了懒就偷了赖，还不爽爽快快承认？ 来自辞典例句

9 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。