VOA慢速英语听力材料

VOA慢速英语听力材料

VOA慢速英语听力材料

VOA慢速英语听力是适合比较多的学生使用的英语听力材料，尤其是初学者。下面，店铺就为大家送上一篇VOA慢速英语听力材料，希望对大家有用。

There is a commonly held belief in the United States about

the best path to a college education.

Many Americans would say this path involves graduating

from high school at age 17 or 18. Then, going off to university to

live and studyfor just four years. And, at the end of that term,

receiving a degree.

But, that is not as usual a path as people might think. U.S.

Department of Education research suggests that the majority of

undergraduate college students take a less traditional approach.

Carey Dwyer is an example. She graduated from high school

in 2005 and began studying physical therapy at Temple

University in Philadelphia. But, after her first year, she decided

she wanted to study nursing instead.

Dwyer moved back home and began seeking an associate’s

degree at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, Maryland in

2006. However, medical issues forced her to take time off school.

She started working full-time and going to school part-time.

Dwyer faced several difficulties. But she says nothing was as

hard as returning to school after she took the time off.

In 2010, Dwyer completed her associate’s degree -- also

called a two year degree. She was 24. Then, she joined the Army.

Using the money she earned, Dwyer completed a bachelor’s

degree at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina in 2015.

Now married with three children, she says she does not mind that it took her almost ten years to complete her education. In

the end, she says she only put in all the effort because she

wanted to.

"Ultimately, all that matters is that I got my degree done. I

didn’t get it for anyone else. I did it for me, specifically, to follow

my goals and my aspirations."

Strayer University is a for-profit college with centers all over

the country. Earlier this year, Strayer worked with the media

company U.S News and World Report to create the 2016 College

Experience Survey. The researchers gathered information from

1,000 U.S. undergraduate students.

The study findings showed that 70 percent of the students

questioned were “nontraditional.”

But what does nontraditional mean? The Strayer report

identifies nontraditional college students in several ways. A

student who passes General Educational Development (GED)

tests instead of earning a high school diploma is considered

nontraditional. So is a student who works more than 35 hours a

week, or studies part-time while seeking a bachelor’s degree.

And, a student who was 25 years or older when they last took

classes, or when they graduated, is also considered

nontraditional.

Information from the U.S. Department of Education suggests

the nontraditional student population may be growing. In 2013

the department reported 29 percent of undergraduates were

between 18 and 24 years old, studying full-time in four-year

degree programs.

Karl McDonnell is the chief executive office of Strayer

Education, the company that owns Strayer University. McDonnell

says there are so many nontraditional students now because many see education as the best way to reach new opportunities.

But, he adds, nontraditional students also have much different

needs.

"Over the last 5 to 10 years we’ve had a more challenging

labor market. So as people try to find well-paying jobs and/or

move up in their organization, a college degree is becoming

more and more important -- you might even say essential. And

the types of programs that higher education needs to pursue,

they tend to be things that are flexible in nature."

McDonnell notes that most of the students at Strayer

University are nontraditional. They are often older people with

years of work experience and families to raise. This means they

need to be able to attend classes during the times that they are

not working or caring for others, he says.

McDonnell argues that most schools are much more

concerned with their traditional students. Online courses like the

ones Strayer offers are increasingly useful for nontraditional

students, he says.

But others suggest there is more schools need to do for

nontraditional students than just offering classes over the

internet.

Eva Yuma is in the final year of her bachelor’s degree

program at the University of Maryland (UMD). She also took a

long path to get where she is now.

Yuma took a year off from studies after graduating from high

school. She then started seeking a degree in art history at the

University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 2009. More than two years

later, she found she was unhappy and moved back to the U.S. In

2013, she returned to school and became a film major.