Last spring Dina Sosa Cruz sat with her parents and sister in the family’s living room and reviewed her options: a full academic ride to the University of the District of Columbia, or an apprenticeship in the insurance industry.
去年春天，迪娜·索莎·克鲁兹(Dina Sosa Cruz)和她的父母和姐妹坐在家里的客厅里，审视着她的选择：去哥伦比亚特区大学(University of the District of Columbia)获得全额学术奖学金，还是进入保险行业的学徒计划。
The college route meant at the end of four years the 22-year-old would have a degree, a little debt and no work experience. The apprenticeship would leave her with a two-year degree, money in the bank and training in a profession that appealed to her.
选择上大学意味着在四年后，这位22岁的年轻人会拥有一张学位证书，一些债务，但没有工作经验。而选择学徒计划，则会获得一张为期两年的学位证书，银行账户里有一些钱，并接受一项吸引她的职业培训。
Her family was unanimous: Take the apprenticeship. “You’ll be worry free,” her mother said.
她的家人一致认为：选择学徒计划。 “这样你就会没有后顾之忧，”她的母亲说。
Family conversations like the one in Ms. Cruz’s living room are bubbling up around the country as high-school seniors recalibrate their options after the pandemic prompted a historic disengagement from school. The result has been the acceleration of a shift away from the nation’s half-century “college-for-all” model toward a choice of either college or vocational programs—including apprenticeships.
像克鲁兹小姐家里的这种家庭对话在全国各地频繁出现，因为疫情导致历史性的学校脱离。结果就是“全民上大学”的模式向大学或职业计划（包括学徒计划）的选择加速转变。
Today, colleges and universities enroll about 15 million undergraduate students, while companies employ about 800,000 apprentices. In the past decade, college enrollment has declined by about 15%, while the number of apprentices has increased by more than 50%, according to federal data and Robert Lerman, a labor economist at the Urban Institute and co-founder of Apprenticeships for America.
根据联邦数据和城市研究所的劳工经济学家和学徒计划发起人罗伯特·勒曼(Robert Lerman)的数据，如今，大学和高校在读本科生约为1500万人，而公司则雇用了约80万名学徒。在过去的十年中，大学的入学率下降了约15%，而学徒的人数却增加了50%以上。
Apprenticeship programs are increasing in both number and variety. About 40% are now outside of construction trades, where most have traditionally been, Dr. Lerman said. Programs are expanding into white-collar industries such as banking, cybersecurity and consulting at companies including McDonald’s Corp. , Accenture PLC and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
学徒计划的数量和类型正在增加。Lerman博士表示，目前约40%的学徒计划已经不再局限于传统的建筑行业。该计划正在扩展到白领行业，如银行、网络安全和咨询等，涉及的公司包括麦当劳、安永和摩根大通等。
Apprenticeships take many forms but generally pair students with a course of study focused on a particular occupation and practical work experience under the supervision of a mentor. Typically, employers pay costs associated with school as well as a wage.
学徒计划有很多形式，但通常将学生与某个职业相关的课程和实践工作经验结合起来，在导师的监督下进行。通常，雇主支付学校相关费用以及工资。
Some programs have boomed in popularity, with admission rates as competitive as those at some Ivy League universities.
一些学徒计划已经在人气上急剧增长，申请入学的竞争率甚至与一些常春藤大学相当。
The gap between the number of students going to college and those selecting apprenticeships is closing as many employers are struggling to find workers in the tightest job market in half a century. Meanwhile, more students say they are wary of enrolling in college for fear it will leave them in debt and holding a degree that hasn’t prepared them for a good job in a fast-changing labor market.
由于许多雇主在半个世纪以来最紧张的就业市场中难以找到工人，因此上大学的学生数量和选择学徒计划的学生数量之间的差距正在缩小。与此同时，越来越多的学生表示他们不愿意上大学，因为他们担心会背负债务，并拥有一张未能为他们在快速变化的劳动力市场中找到好工作做好准备的学位。
As a result, some employers say a mismatch has developed between the skills employers are seeking and the lessons students are learning in college and university courses. To address the mismatch, companies are dropping requirements for degrees for some jobs, and states are rebuilding the vocational-education pathways that were de-emphasized two generations ago when the nation adopted a college-preparatory path for nearly all students.
因此，一些雇主表示，雇主寻求的技能和学生在大学课程中学到的课程存在不匹配。为了解决这种不匹配，公司正在取消某些职位的学位要求，各州正在重建两代人前被削弱的职业教育路径，当时全国几乎所有学生都采取了大学预备课程。
Companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Delta Air Lines Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. have responded by dropping college degrees as requirements for some positions and shifting hiring to focus more on skills and experience. Pennsylvania has cut college-degree requirements for some state jobs, and Maryland has set a statewide goal of 45% of high-school students starting a registered apprenticeship by 2031.
像Alphabet公司的谷歌、达美航空公司和国际商业机器公司这样的公司已经通过取消某些职位的学位要求并将招聘重点转向技能和经验方面作出回应。宾夕法尼亚州已经取消了一些州立工作的学位要求，马里兰州制定了一个到2031年高中学生开始注册学徒计划的州级目标。
About one-third of Maryland high-school graduates have earned a community-college degree or four-year-college degree by the age of 25, said State Sen. James Rosapepe, who has championed the apprenticeship programs. He called that proof that the college-for-all model is falling short.
马里兰州参议员詹姆斯·罗萨佩普称，约三分之一的马里兰州高中毕业生在25岁时已获得社区学院学位或四年制学位。他认为，这证明了大学为所有人提供教育的模式存在缺陷。
Mr. Rosapepe characterized the national skills mismatch as an information problem. Colleges and the military actively recruit in high schools to educate students about their options. Little information, he said, is shared about all the other trades or professions.
罗萨佩普先生将国家技能匹配问题描述为信息问题。大学和军队积极在高中招生，向学生介绍他们的选择。他说，很少分享关于所有其他行业或职业的信息。
“We’ve paved the path for the one-third, and we let the other two-thirds wander aimlessly in the woods,” said Mr. Rosapepe. “It’s not fair to them and it’s obviously economically inefficient.”
“我们为三分之一人铺好了道路，而让另外三分之二人在树林里漫无目的地徘徊，”罗萨佩普先生说，“这对他们不公平，而且显然在经济上是低效的。”
Zurich North America, an insurance firm, says it hired 92 apprentices last year, many right out of high school, from more than 800 applicants. Most apprentices attend community college. They are based in offices across the country where they work stints in different departments such as underwriting, claims, audit, statistical reporting, IT, cybersecurity and reinsurance, said Al Crook, who leads the company’s apprenticeship program.
保险公司 Zurich North America 表示，他们去年招聘了92名学徒，其中许多是从800名申请者中招募的高中毕业生。大多数学徒上的是社区学院。该公司的学徒计划负责人 Al Crook 表示，他们在全国各地的办事处工作，轮流在不同部门工作，如承保、索赔、审计、统计报告、IT、网络安全和再保险。
EJ Crespo, 20, is now in the billing audit department at Zurich’s office in Schaumburg, Ill., outside of Chicago. He said there is an adjustment to working in an office with people his parents’ age, but said he has become proficient at data analysis and Excel since he began.
现年20岁的 EJ Crespo 现在在 Zurich 在芝加哥郊外伊利诺伊州的办事处的计费审计部门工作。他说，适应在和他父母年龄相仿的人一起工作的过程有些困难，但他说自从开始工作以来，他已经熟练掌握了数据分析和 Excel 技能。
He earns about $40,000 a year while taking four classes a semester at a community college and working 24 hours a week during the school year—and full time in summer.
他每年赚取约 40,000 美元，每学期上四门社区大学的课程，在学年期间每周工作24小时，并在暑假全职工作。
“I literally didn’t know anything when I got here, and they taught me all these skills,” he said.
他说：“当我来到这里时，我什至不知道任何东西，他们教会了我所有这些技能。”
The Aon PLC apprenticeship program in which Ms. Cruz enrolled began in 2016 and that year accepted 40% of applicants. Last year, the program drew 1,100 applicants for 90 spots. This year, the applicant pool grew to 1,500 for 100 positions. That 7% acceptance rate makes the program as selective as Cornell University and Dartmouth College.
克鲁兹女士参加的Aon PLC学徒计划始于2016年，当年该计划录取了申请者的40%。去年，该计划吸引了1,100名申请者竞争90个名额。今年，申请人数增加到1,500人，共有100个名额。这个7%的录取率使该计划与康奈尔大学和达特茅斯学院的录取率一样高。
“A lot of the growth is word-of-mouth,” said Bridget Gainer, spokeswoman for Aon, a global professional-services firm based in Chicago.
“很多增长都是口耳相传，”Aon全球专业服务公司的女发言人布里奇特·盖纳（Bridget Gainer）表示。
The longest-tenured apprentices are four years past graduation and are earning 15% to 25% more than when they started, she said. They have also been easier to retain.
最资深的学徒已经毕业4年，收入比开始时高15%到25%。他们也更容易留住。
Research from other countries shows that success may be short-lived. Eric A. Hanushek, a Stanford University economist, said that the skills learned in an apprenticeship might not be of much help down the line.
其他国家的研究表明，成功可能是短暂的。斯坦福大学经济学家埃里克·A·哈努舍克（Eric A. Hanushek）表示，学徒制度所学习的技能可能在未来没有太大帮助。
“People get more specific skills in apprenticeship programs than they do in college and while that helps them enter the labor market with greater ease at the beginning of their careers, later in life their skills depreciate,” he said. “So at age 45 or 50 or 55, these people are less likely to stay in the labor market because their skills are less valuable.”
他说：“人们在学徒计划中获得的技能比他们在大学里学到的更加具体，虽然这有助于他们在职业生涯初期更轻松地进入劳动力市场，但是随着时间的推移，他们的技能会贬值。所以在45岁、50岁或55岁时，这些人更不可能留在劳动力市场，因为他们的技能不那么有价值。”
By contrast, a college degree offers a broader, general education, which “makes people more adaptable and able to learn new skills that show up later when the economy changes,” he said.
相比之下，大学学位提供了更广泛、更普遍的教育，这使得人们更加适应和能够学习新的技能，以适应经济的变化，他说。
Employers might be getting the better end of the bargain because they are able to hire apprentices at relatively low wages, he said.
他表示，雇主可能获得更好的交易条件，因为他们能够以相对较低的工资雇佣学徒。
The admissions process for apprenticeships generally includes three or four steps over several months. Applicants are typically given tests to measure a host of attributes, such as attention to detail, writing and math skills, and an ability to work in teams.
学徒招生过程通常需要进行三到四个步骤，历时数月。申请者通常需要进行测试，以衡量各种属性，例如注意力细节、写作和数学技能以及团队合作能力。
In Indiana, the college-enrollment rate among male high-school graduates fell to 53% in 2020 from 65% in 2015, according to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. A consortium of businesses in central Indiana helped launch a program to get high-school students enrolled in two- or three-year apprenticeships at the start of their junior year.
印第安纳州高中毕业生的大学入学率从2015年的65%下降到2020年的53%，根据印第安纳高等教育委员会的数据。印第安纳州中部的一家企业联合会帮助推出了一个计划，在高中三年级开始时，让学生参加为期两到三年的学徒计划。
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