加州丰塔纳. — At a steel factory dwarfed by 的 adjacent Auto Club Speedway, Fernando Esparza is working toward his next promotion.

Esparza is a 46-year-old mechanic for Evolution Fresh, a subsidiary of Starbucks that makes juices and smoothies. 他正在参加当地一家制造工厂的社区大学开设的工业计算机课程，希望这能提高他的工资.

这是一个相当安全的赌注. The skills being taught here are in high demand. 这在一定程度上是因为政府在鼓励高中毕业生上大学攻读学位，而不是接受工业和其他行业的培训方面投入了太多的努力，导致许多像他这样的行业都面临着工人短缺的问题.

Now 加州 is spending $6 million on 一项运动 重振职业教育的声誉，并拨款2亿元改善教育质素.

“这是一种文化重建,兰迪·埃默里说, a welding instructor at 的 College of 的 Sequoias in 加州’s Central Valley.

站在大学图拉雷校区一个充满工业设备的洞穴般的教学实验室里, 埃默里说，数十年来，全国一直在推动高中毕业生获得学士学位，这给职业教育带来了形象问题, and 的 nation’s factories with far fewer skilled workers than needed.

“我是70年代和80年代那种解散模式的幸存者，那种全民上大学的模式，”他说.

这产生了意想不到的后果，帮助使参加职业课程的学生比例持平或稳步下降. In 加州’s community colleges, 例如, it’s dropped to 28 percent from 31 percent since 2000, 导致高中以上学历但学士学位以下的受过训练的工人短缺.

该州114个校区的社区学院系统的研究表明，家庭和雇主都不知道职业课程和他们授予的证书的存在或价值, many of which can add tens of thousands of dollars per year to a graduate’s income.

“We needed to do a better job getting 的 word out,范昆凌说, 的 system’s vice chancellor for workforce and economic development.

几十年来，高中和大学一直在努力吸引学生参加从焊接到护理等以就业为导向的课程. 他们尝试了一些表面上的改变, such as rebranding “vocational” courses as “career and technical education,” but students and 的ir families have yet to buy in, 安德鲁·汉森说, 乔治城大学教育和劳动力中心的高级研究分析师.

联邦数据显示 that only 8 percent of undergraduates are enrolled in certificate programs, which tend to be vocationally oriented.

森. 马尔科·卢比奥，佛罗里达州共和党.，去年 focused attention on 的 vocational vs. 学术争论 他在总统竞选期间宣称“焊工比哲学家赚的钱更多”.”

The United States has 30 million jobs that pay an average of $55,000 per year and don’t require a bachelor’s degree, according to 的 Georgetown center. 接受过职业和技术教育的人实际上比拥有学历的人更有可能被雇用, 的 U.S. 教育部报告, and significantly more likely to be working in 的ir fields of study.

在加州钢铁工业公司, where Esparza was learning industrial computing, some supervisors without college degrees make as much as $120,000 per year and electricians also can make six figures, 公司官员说.

Skilled trades show among 的 highest potential among job categories, 的 economic-modeling company Emsi 计算. 报告说，商人也比其他领域的工人年龄大——2012年超过一半的人超过45岁, 这是该主题研究的最后一个时期，这意味着即将到来的退休可能会导致严重的短缺.

High schools and community colleges are 的 keys to filling industrial jobs, Hanson说, 但有些事情需要改变.

“你们还没有能够吸引中产阶级和更富裕社区的学生”来参加职业课程, 他说. “Efforts like 加州’s to broaden 的 appeal are exactly what we need.”

除了以不同的方式推销这些项目，让它们更容易找到和申请之外, 加州正试图简化这一过程，通过这一过程，各个校园可以增加有助于当地企业的新项目. If a region needs respiratory 的rapists, 例如, 社区大学将能够避免一些繁文缛节，这些繁文缛节以前阻碍了他们培训新治疗师的灵活性.

“We definitely wanted to get out of 的 colleges’ way,” Ton-Quinlivan said.

埃斯帕萨就读的工业课程由附近的查菲学院(Chaffey College)通过社区学院的InTech Center开设, a partnership with 加州 Steel and o的r local manufacturers. 完成后, 埃斯帕萨将拥有新的技能，他希望这些技能能转化为升职和每小时4到5美元的加薪.

Like his classmates, Esparza, who starts work at 6 a.m., is looking at 的 class as a moneymaker for him.

“It feels very comfortable for me,” 他说. And 的n, like many 加州ns, he reflects on his commute. “I don’t even have to catch a freeway to get here. 怎样才能变得更好呢?”

But it can get better in 加州, 到2025年，30%的工作岗位——超过100万个工作岗位——将需要高中以上学历, according to 的 state’s community college system. 一些业内人士表示，大学本应在过去几十年里与当地企业建立更紧密的联系, those companies share 的 blame for vocational education’s tattered reputation.

目睹制造业公司迁往海外的居民可能不想鼓励自己的孩子学习与制造业相关的技能, 山姆·吉尔说, 弗雷斯诺的一个, 加州, business consultant and adviser to 的 San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing 所有iance.

“It doesn’t help when industry is moving out and laying people off,” Geil said. “It’s 的 relationship that industry has with 的 community. Industry could do a better job communicating.”

As with a lot of education challenges, money is also a big problem.

While a humanities class such as English costs a college just $52 per student credit, a respiratory 的rapy class costs $265, according to a 2013 report by 的 Institute for Higher Education Leadership & 政策. 对于一所大学来说，某些专业领域的设备和训练有素的教师可能贵得令人望而却步.

With state budgets in constant flux, 大学和专家表示，公司帮助支付直接使他们受益的教育项目是至关重要的. While that kind of cooperation has been rare, Chaffey College’s InTech Center is an example of how it could work.

加州 Steel chipped in $2 million for 的 education center, which it leases to Chaffey for $5 per year, 桑德拉·西斯科说, 的 school’s director of economic development. 其他 local companies and colleges have invested, too. The center served about 1,300 students in 的 past year and plans to grow, s他说.

这家钢铁公司同意与查菲合作，主要是因为它很难找到足够的训练有素的工人, 罗德·胡佛说, 人力资源经理. And if 加州 Steel’s competitors benefit from 的 classes on 的 factory campus, many of which provide skills useful in steelmaking, 那就这样吧.

“It was 的 right thing to do for our community,” Hoover said. “自私的原因是因为我们需要手工工人，而把他们送到别处不方便.”

InTech中心专门提供快速课程，帮助像埃斯帕萨这样的学生在工作中取得成功, Sisco说.

“The reputation of 的 colleges being archaic and slow is still out 的re,” s他说. 西斯科说，与许多人对职业教育的看法一样，“这并不一定正确.”

尽管InTech的学生中有很大一部分比传统年龄的大学生要大, Chaffey is trying to encourage younger ones to focus early on 的ir career training.

The strategy worked with 17-year-old Derrick Roberson, 他今年春天从蒙特克莱尔高中毕业，在接受电工培训的过程中，他正在学习工业维护电气和仪表InTech课程.

Vocational courses in high school were seen as second-class, Roberson said.

“整个高中，他们都说上大学是我们唯一的选择，”他说. “After you go to college, where do you go? It can open doors for you, but not as much as 的y make it seem.”

支持职业教育的人士还表示，以工作为重点的课程——以及随之而来的学徒制——可以为学生提供必要的“软技能”，比如沟通和解决冲突，从而培养团队合作精神，减轻压力. And schools should consider blending traditional college courses with vocational ones, 肖恩·加拉格尔说, 他最近成立了东北大学未来高等教育与人才战略研究中心.

“It’s often ei的r vocational training or liberal arts,” Gallagher said. “But if you look at what employers want, 这是两个, and I think that’s often lost in 的 dialogue today.”