美国国家公共电台 NPR--Some states and community colleges offer free skilled trades courses

Some states and community colleges offer free skilled trades courses

Transcript¹

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Young workers without a high school diploma are the most likely to switch jobs these days. Getting a professional credential of some kind can help them achieve higher pay and more stability. Alexandra Starr reports on a New York program that offers those courses for free.

(SOUNDBITE OF ELECTRIC SAW CUTTING)

ALEXANDRA STARR, BYLINE²: A little more than a dozen men sit in a basement classroom in Harlem. They are studying Plumbing³ 1 at LaGuardia Community College. In the front of the room, a student demonstrates how to cut a pipe.

(APPLAUSE)

STARR: Stephane St. Louis joins the applause. He arrived in the United States from Haiti as a teenager almost two decades ago. He first enrolled⁴ in community college when he was 18. His mom, who worked as a home health aide, paid for it.

STEPHANE ST LOUIS: My mom was working, like, two jobs. She was working, like, seven days. So I wanted something fast, you know? I wanted to make money to help my mom more out with the bills.

STARR: A friend told him he could get hired at McDonald's. He left school and soon was working more than full-time⁵.

ST LOUIS: I worked there for a while, and I was also working at the airport - at JFK. So I used to do two jobs, you know, for seven days. No break.

STARR: His pay never topped $17 an hour. He wanted to go back to school to do a short course that could get him out of the cycle of service jobs. He didn't have the money for it, though. Then, a friend told him about a program at LaGuardia that would allow him to study a trade, like plumbing, for free.

ST LOUIS: You know, you only get those opportunity once in a lifetime. So that's why I wanted to do it.

STARR: It is unusual. States like Florida and Virginia offer financial support to students earning certifications, but they don't get full rides. Kenneth Adams is president of LaGuardia Community College. He raised money from New York City's philanthropic organizations by pointing to the city's huge job loss after COVID struck.

KENNETH ADAMS: And so in the spring of 2020 - think about it - the city lost a million jobs. And those were held, for the most part, by immigrants, people of color.

STARR: LaGuardia ended up raising $15 million to offer scholarships like the one Stephane St. Louis is on. Adams says he's very typical.

ADAMS: We're trying to attract students who want to go in a new direction and move from hospitality to health care.

STARR: And there are jobs for people studying for a certification in the skilled trades. Madelyn Shmidt has hired two LaGuardia-trained plumbers⁶ for her company, Long Island Clean Water Service. She wishes there were more of them.

MADELYN SHMIDT: If you can work with your hands - whether it's electricians or plumbers - you have it made for your future.

STARR: The federal infrastructure⁷ bill will create more of these kinds of jobs. Tony Carnevale is director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce⁸.

TONY CARNEVALE: The infrastructure bill is going to create a lot of good jobs. The estimates are between two and seven million jobs for high school graduates who get training.

STARR: Now, for the most part, these jobs don't pay as much as positions that require a bachelor's degree, but people with some postsecondary education do see a financial payoff. Their lifetime earnings⁹ are almost 20% higher than for people with just a high school diploma. At this point, the federal government doesn't provide much financial support to students who want to pursue a skilled trade, but Carnevale believes that will change.

CARNEVALE: We've come to the point where there's now bipartisan support for training. The votes are there.

STARR: The earliest that kind of bill could pass, though, is in the next Congress, after the midterms. For NPR News, I'm Alexandra Starr.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 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。

3 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

6 plumbers   

n.管子工，水暖工( plumber的名词复数 )；[美][口]（防止泄密的）堵漏人员

参考例句：

• Plumbers charge by the hour for their work. 水管工人的工作是以小时收费的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Plumbers, carpenters, and other workmen finished the new house quickly. 管道工、木工及其他工匠很快完成了这幢新房子。 来自辞典例句

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

8 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。

9 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。