美国国家公共电台 NPR Why High School Students Need More Than College Prep

Why High School Students Need More Than College Prep

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Switching gears now, it's pretty much a given these days that high school graduates are supposed to go to college. About 7 out of 10 graduates say that's where they're headed. And yet, there's a growing concern that this push for college as the only option is missing something - job skills that employers in hospitality, retail¹, accounting² and marketing³ say they're looking for. Claudio Sanchez of NPR's Ed team visited one high school recently that's sending a different message.

CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE⁴: Willamette High School in Eugene, Ore., is a big, sprawling⁵ campus where on any given morning, you're likely to get a powerful whiff of freshly ground coffee coming from Willy's Cafe, the student-run coffee shop, which is actually a class that teaches students how to make a double shot latte without making a mess.

CARRIE GILBERT: You're going to want to steam the milk first, and then once you have the coffee, dump it in and...

SANCHEZ: Carrie Gilbert, 17, gets paid for helping⁶ manage Willy's Cafe and training other aspiring⁷ baristas. The service is courteous⁸ and fast. All right. My latte's ready.

It's not bad. It doesn't have the whole milk that I usually want, but it's very tasty. Good.

Willy's is part of DECA, Distributive Education Clubs of America, a merchandising course, one of 40 vocational courses at Willamette High.

We'll come back to Willy's in a moment, but let's think about this for a minute. What if your child wasn't all that crazy about going to college and she came home one day and told you she was training as a barista at school?

ANTHONY CARNEVALE: If it were my kid, I wouldn't let it happen because the truth is the tried and true path in America is high school to Harvard.

SANCHEZ: Not Starbucks, says Anthony Carnevale. He's head of the Center on Education and the Workforce⁹ at Georgetown University.

CARNEVALE: You don't tell middle-class Americans I'm going to send your kid to trade school.

SANCHEZ: Even good vocational programs like DECA are often viewed as a second-rate education, a pipeline¹⁰ to low-wage, dead-end jobs.

JOHN FISTOLERA: These are not dead-end jobs.

SANCHEZ: John Fistolera is with DECA's corporate¹¹ office.

FISTOLERA: We work with business and industry to identify specific knowledge and skills that they say are required for an employee to be successful on the job.

SANCHEZ: That's been DECA's mission since the mid-1940s. But guess who else is saying that today?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I'm just saying, you can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four-year college education as long as you get the skills and the training that you need.

(APPLAUSE)

SANCHEZ: President Obama's push for career and technical education as an alternative to college is well-known, but so is his administration's even bigger push for a college education for all. Carnevale says that's a message that kids and parents should take with a grain of salt.

CARNEVALE: Every year, more than 400,000 young people in the top half of their high school class go to college, and at least eight years later they have not gained either a two-year or four-year degree or a certificate.

SANCHEZ: At Willamette High, the message to students is upbeat and simple. You need to be college ready and also prepared for the world of work.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Be sure to check the career technical education options.

SANCHEZ: Every morning, students hear about DECA and the job training opportunities the school offers. The course that 18-year-old Kareena Montalvo fell in love with - graphic¹² design.

KAREENA MONTALVO: I can't tell you how many posters we've done for upcoming plays, musicals, and it lets me understand how artists need to meet clients' needs.

SANCHEZ: A talented artist, Kareena sees herself as an entrepreneur and down the road...

MONTALVO: I want to get my major in graphic design and a minor¹³ in marketing.

SANCHEZ: OK. Now let's get back to Willy's Cafe and Carrie Gilbert, the 17-year-old who made that tasty latte for me. She says training as a barista may not seem like a big deal, but she's also learning about those soft skills that employers say teenagers often lack - being on time, teamwork, people skills.

GILBERT: Just the overall experience prepares you for a lot of different kinds of things. I'm not really sure what I want to do exactly, but it's definitely giving me skills to prepare here.

SANCHEZ: Teachers and administrators¹⁴ here don't discourage students from going to college, but Dawn Delforis (ph), Willamette's assistant principal says...

DAWN DELFORIS: The thing I think does still exist is the stigma¹⁵ that's oftentimes attached - oh, you're not going to college?

SANCHEZ: The teenagers we talked to didn't seem to care about that. What they cared about most was getting out into the real world, earning a paycheck and most of all having an option. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

8 courteous   

adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的

参考例句：

• Although she often disagreed with me,she was always courteous.尽管她常常和我意见不一，但她总是很谦恭有礼。
• He was a kind and courteous man.他为人友善，而且彬彬有礼。

9 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

10 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

11 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

12 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

13 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

14 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

15 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。