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.
Donje Gates 今年 18 岁，住在伊利诺伊州的芝加哥。他的家人希望他在秋天上大学。但盖茨正在考虑转而去读贸易学校。他说他担心上大学的费用，不确定这对他是否有用。盖茨和一群高中生一起参观了芝加哥的 Malcom X 社区学院。该校大约 75% 的学生是女生。与美国的许多学院和大学一样，Malcom X 正在努力吸引更多男生入学。现在，女生约占美国大学本科生的 58%。该信息来自国家学生信息交换所研究中心。接受高等教育的男生比例正在逐年下降。
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.”
现在，一些大学正在加倍努力以吸引和留住男生。例如，马尔科姆 X 社区学院的领导发现黑人男生的辍学率高于其他学生群体。为了帮助更多的黑人男生留在学校，领导者启动了一项辅导计划。该计划将一名教师或其他学校员工与两名黑人男生联系起来。这项努力还是有所帮助的。2021 年秋季至 2022 年春季期间，43% 的黑人男生退学了。但该校校长大卫·桑德斯 (David Sanders) 表示，参与辅导计划的男生中有 93% 留在了学校。然而，桑德斯说，有些人不承认他们需要学术帮助。他说：“那是对男生的期望，他应该是坚强的，而不是脆弱的。”
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.
大学官员说，一些关于男人和男孩的看法加大了入学难度。伯里亚学院是美国南部肯塔基州的一所小的私立学校。它现在的男生比 2019 年减少了 18%。该学院正试图吸引更多来自阿巴拉契亚山脉附近地区的男生。Rick Childers 是 Berea 以前的学生。他现在在学院工作，领导学校的阿巴拉契亚项目。他说，他遇到的许多男生都面临着和他同样的一些关于男子气概的过时的观念。在那种旧的观念里，上大学可不是什么强者会做的事。奇尔德斯说他的父亲会用消极的方式称他为“大学生”。
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.
教育工作者说，大学很难吸收到那些被别人说他们不适合读大学的学生。教育工作者说，另一个问题是，一些高校的官员认为男生不需要任何特别的帮助。Ioakim Boutakidis 是加州州立大学富勒顿分校儿童和青少年研究教授。他指出，一些官员认为男生已经比女生拥有更多优势。因此，这些学校不太可能会为男生提供特殊的支持。Boutakidis 说，他曾试图让他所在的大学关注男生入学和学术方面。但他说，他的同事对是否需要更多地关注男生表示怀疑。总体而言，有色人种男生上大学的可能性低于白人男生。正因为如此，Boutakidis 说他认为学校应该首先关注有色人种。
enroll 注册 I plan to enroll in a cooking class to improve my culinary skills.（我计划报名参加烹饪课程，提升我的烹饪技巧。）
undergraduate 本科 My sister is an undergraduate studying biology at a prestigious university.（我姐姐是一名本科生，在一所名校学习生物学。）
attract 吸引 The stunning artwork in the gallery attracts visitors from all over the world, and its vibrant colors and unique techniques leave a lasting impression on everyone who sees it.（画廊里令人惊叹的艺术品吸引了来自世界各地的游客，其鲜艳的色彩和独特的技巧给所有看到它的人）
mentor 导师 I was fortunate to have a mentor who guided me through the early stages of my career.（我很幸运有一位导师在我职业生涯的早期阶段指导我。）
masculinity 阳刚之气 The society's traditional view of masculinity is evolving, embracing a more inclusive definition.（社会对男子气概的传统观念正在演变，拥抱更加包容的定义。）
adolescent 青春期 The adolescent stage is a crucial period of development and self-discovery.（青少年阶段是一个关键的发展和自我探索时期。）
advantages 优势 Learning a second language provides numerous advantages, such as better job prospects and cultural understanding.（学习第二语言带来了诸多好处，比如更好的就业前景和文化理解。）
focus 焦点 In order to excel in your studies, it's important to maintain focus and avoid distractions.（为了在学业上取得优异成绩，保持专注并避免分心是很重要的。）
