VOA慢速：大学努力增加男生数量
Colleges, Universities Trying to Increase Number of Male Students
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
Donje Gates is 18 years old and lives in Chicago, Illinois. His family wants him to go to college in the fall. But Gates is thinking about going to a trade school instead. He says he worries about the cost of college and is not sure if it will be valuable to him.
Gates was in a group of high school students visiting Chicago’s Malcom X Community College. About 75 percent of the school’s students are women. Like many colleges and universities in the United States, Malcom X is struggling to get more male students to enroll.
Women now make up about 58 percent of U.S. college undergraduates. That information comes from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The percentage of men in higher education is getting smaller each year.
Now, some universities are making extra efforts to attract and keep male students.
For example, leaders at Malcolm X Community College saw that Black men were dropping out at a higher rate than other student groups. To help more Black men stay in school, leaders started a mentoring program. The program connects a teacher or other school employee with two Black male students.
The effort has helped. Forty-three percent of Black male students dropped out between the fall of 2021 and the spring of 2022. But 93 percent of the men in the mentoring program stayed in school, said the school’s president, David Sanders.
However, Sanders said some men do not want to admit they need academic help.
“There’s an expectation for a male,” he said. “He’s supposed to be strong and not show weakness.”
l Ideas about men can affect enrollment
College officials say some ideas about men and boys add to the enrollment difficulties.
Berea College is a small private school in the southern U.S. state of Kentucky. It has 18 percent fewer male students now than in 2019. The college is trying to attract more men from nearby areas in the Appalachian Mountains.
Rick Childers is a former student at Berea. He now works for the college and leads the school’s Appalachian project. He said many of the male students he meets face the same outdated ideas about masculinity that he did. In that old way of thinking, going to college was not something a strong man would do.
Childers said his father would call him “college boy” in a negative way.
Educators say it is difficult to make college appealing to men who have been told that college is not for them.
Educators say another problem is that some officials at colleges and universities do not believe male students need any special help.
Ioakim Boutakidis is a professor of child and adolescent studies at California State University Fullerton. He noted that some officials think men already have more advantages than women. As a result, those schools may be less likely to offer special support for male students.
Boutakidis said he has tried to get his university to pay attention to male enrollment and academics. But his coworkers, he said, have expressed doubt about the need for more focus on male students.
Overall, men of color are less likely to attend college than white men. Because of this, Boutakidis said he thinks schools should focus on men of color first.
Some colleges across the country have started to do that. California’s large community college system has increased support of its African American Male Education Network and Development program, or A2MEND. The program aims to attract and keep Black men.
One way it does this is by giving one-on-one mentoring and providing places for the students to meet. The program hopes this will make Black students feel welcome and build a sense of community.
Amanuel Gebru is vice president of student support at Moorpark, a California community college. He is also president of the A2MEND board. He said he thinks colleges should hire more Black professors.
Just seven percent of faculty members at American colleges are Black, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Moorpark College said just two percent of its faculty members are Black. The U.S. population is 13.6 percent Black.
In New Jersey, Montclair State University has tried several ways to attract male students from communities in that state. This includes providing tutoring, counseling, food and other things students need.
But many communities still believe men do not belong in college, said assistant provost Daniel Jean.
“There’s an anti-intellectual environment that’s gotten worse,” he said. “The definition of manhood is often flawed.”
Vaughn Smith Jr. is a 23-year-old Montclair State student from Newark, New Jersey. Smith, who is Black, said boys and men in poorer neighborhoods may be focused on things other than making college plans.
He said most of his male high school classmates did go to college. But many of them, he added, have since dropped out.
I’m Andrew Smith. And I’m Faith Pirlo.
VOCABULARY
1. enrollment difficulties: 招生困难
2. trade school: 职业技术学校
3. mentoring program: 导师计划
4. outdated ideas about masculinity: 有关男性气概的过时观念
5. academic help: 学术帮助
6. one-on-one mentoring: 一对一辅导
7. faculty members：教员
8. anti-intellectual environment: 反智环境
QUESTIONS
Listen to the news and choose the best answer to each question you hear.
1. What is Donje Gates considering instead of going to college?
A) Working full-time.
B) Starting his own business.
C) Attending a trade school.
D) Joining the military.
2. What is the percentage of women among U.S. college undergraduates, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center?
A) 18%.
B) 43%.
C) 58%.
D) 93%.
3. What did Malcolm X Community College do to help Black male students stay in school?
A) They started a scholarship program for Black male students.
B) They offered academic help to all students.
C) They lowered tuition for Black male students.
D) They started a mentoring program for Black male students.
4. Why do some men not want to admit they need academic help, according to David Sanders?
A) They think academic help is only for women.
B) They don’t have time for extra help.
C) They don’t believe academic help is useful.
D) They don’t want to be seen as weak.
5. What is the difficulty in making college appealing to men who have been told that college is not for them?
A) They think college is too expensive.
B) They are more interested in sports and other activities.
C) They believe college is only for women.
D) They have been told going to college is not something a strong man would do.
6. What is A2MEND?
A) A new college in California.
B) A mentoring program for Black men.
C) A scholarship program for male students.
D) A protest movement against sexism.
7. What percentage of American college faculty members are Black, according to the National Center for Education Statistics?
A) 2%.
B) 7%.
C) 13.6%.
D) 18%.
8. What is the difficulty in attracting male students to college, according to Daniel Jean?
A) The cost of tuition.
B) Lack of support from family and friends.
C) Negative attitudes toward higher education.
D) Limited academic opportunities.
KEY
1. What is Donje Gates considering instead of going to college?
A) Working full-time.
B) Starting his own business.
C) Attending a trade school.
D) Joining the military.
【答案】C
【解析】细节题。Donje Gates正在考虑去职业学校而不是上大学。
2. What is the percentage of women among U.S. college undergraduates, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center?
A) 18%.
B) 43%.
C) 58%.
D) 93%.
【答案】C
【解析】细节题。全国学生清算中心研究中心的数据显示，美国大学本科女性的比例为58%。
3. What did Malcolm X Community College do to help Black male students stay in school?
A) They started a scholarship program for Black male students.
B) They offered academic help to all students.
C) They lowered tuition for Black male students.
D) They started a mentoring program for Black male students.
【答案】D
【解析】细节题。马尔科姆X社区学院开展了面向黑人男性学生的指导计划，并取得了成功。
4. Why do some men not want to admit they need academic help, according to David Sanders?
A) They think academic help is only for women.
B) They don’t have time for extra help.
C) They don’t believe academic help is useful.
D) They don’t want to be seen as weak.
【答案】D
【解析】细节题。David Sanders表示，有些男性不想承认自己需要学术帮助，因为他们不想被视为脆弱。
5. What is the difficulty in making college appealing to men who have been told that college is not for them?
A) They think college is too expensive.
B) They are more interested in sports and other activities.
C) They believe college is only for women.
D) They have been told going to college is not something a strong man would do.
【答案】D
【解析】细节题。一些男性曾被告知上大学不是强壮男子应该做的事情，这使得他们更难被大学所吸引。
6. What is A2MEND?
A) A new college in California.
B) A mentoring program for Black men.
C) A scholarship program for male students.
D) A protest movement against sexism.
【答案】B
【解析】细节题。A2MEND是面向非裔美国男性的指导计划。
7. What percentage of American college faculty members are Black, according to the National Center for Education Statistics?
A) 2%.
B) 7%.
C) 13.6%.
D) 18%.
【答案】B。
【解析】细节题。根据美国国家教育统计中心的数据，美国大学教师中只有7%是黑人。
8. What is the difficulty in attracting male students to college, according to Daniel Jean?
A) The cost of tuition.
B) Lack of support from family and friends.
C) Negative attitudes toward higher education.
D) Limited academic opportunities.
【答案】C
【解析】推理题。Daniel Jean表示，吸引男性学生上大学的一个困难是对高等教育的负面态度。
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