Apprenticeships are bringing new workers to heritage industries
学徒制为传统工艺行业注入新生力量
SHINGLETOWN, Calif. — On a cold morning in October, the sun shone weakly through tall sugar pines and cedars in Shingletown, a small Northern California outpost whose name is a reminder of its history as a logging camp in the 1800s. Up a gravel road banked with iron-rich red soil, Dylan Knight took a break from stacking logs.
加州辛格尔镇--在一个十月的寒冷清晨，微弱的阳光透过高大的糖松和雪松，照射在这个加州北部的小镇上。镇名让人想起它19世纪作为伐木营地的历史。在一条铺满富含铁元素红壤的砾石旁，迪伦·奈特正在码放原木，此刻他正在休息片刻。
Knight is one of 10 student loggers at Shasta College training to operate the heavy equipment required for modern-day logging: processors to remove limbs from logs that have just been cut, skidders to pull logs out of the cutting site, loaders to stack and sort the logs by species and masticators to mulch up debris.
奈特是沙斯塔学院培训的10名学员伐木工之一，他们正在接受现代伐木所需要的重型设备操作培训：包括去除新伐原木枝干的木材处理器、将原木拖出砍伐现场的集材机、按树种分类堆垛的装载机，以及处理碎木的碎木机。
For centuries, logging was a seasonal, learn-on-the-job trade passed down from father to son. But as climate change and innovations in the industry have changed logging into a year-round business, there aren’t always enough workers to fill jobs.
几个世纪以来，伐木一直是父子相传的季节性手艺。但随着气候变化和行业创新使伐木变成全年性业务，劳动力已无法满足岗位需求。
“Our workforce was dying,” said Delbert Gannon, owner of Creekside Logging. “You couldn’t even pick from the bottom of the barrel. It was affecting our production and our ability to haul logs. We felt we had to do something.”
“我们的劳动力正在青黄不接，”奥里克赛德伐木公司老板德里伯特·甘农表示，“甚至连勉强可用的人都找不到。这已经影响了我们的产量和原木运输能力，我觉得我们必须采取行动。”
Related: Interested in innovations in higher education? Subscribe to our free biweekly higher education newsletter.
相关咨询：对高等教育创新感兴趣？订阅我们的免费半月高等教育通讯。
Around the country, community colleges are stepping in to run apprenticeship programs for heritage industries, such as logging and aquaculture, which are too small to run. These partnerships help colleges expand the workforce development programs central to their mission. The partnerships also help keep small businesses in small industries alive by managing state and federal grants and providing the equipment, courses and staff to train workers.
全美各地的社区学院正在介入，为规模太小难以独立运作的传统工艺行业（如伐木和水产养殖）开展学徒制，这些行业规模过小难以自主展开培训。这种合作模式既帮助学院拓展其核心使命：劳动力发展项目，又通过管理政府拨款、提供培训设备及师资等方式扶持小型产业生存。
As industries go, logging is small, and it’s struggling. In 2023 there were only about 50,000 logging jobs in the U.S., but the number of logging companies has been on the decline for several years. Most loggers are over 50, according to industry data, and older generations are retiring, contributing to more than 6,000 vacant positions every year on average. The median annual salary for loggers is about $50,000.
随着工业的发展，伐木业属于小型产业且发展艰难。2023年美国仅有约5万个伐木岗位，而伐木公司数量已连续多年下滑。行业数据显示：大多数伐木工年龄超过50岁，随着老一代工人退休，该行业年均空缺岗位超过6000个。伐木工的年薪中位数约为5万美元。
Retirements have hit Creekside Logging hard. In 2018 Gannon’s company had jobs to do, and the machines to do them, but nobody to do the work. He reached out to Shasta College, which offers certificates and degrees in forestry and heavy equipment operation, to see if there might be a student who could help.
退休潮严重影响了克里克赛德伐木公司。2018年，甘农的公司有任务要完成，也有设备，但缺少干活的人手。于是他联系了沙斯塔学院，该学院提供林业和重型设备操作方面的证书和学位课程，想看看是否有学生能来帮忙。
That conversation led to a formal partnership between the college and 19 timber companies to create a pre-apprenticeship course in Heavy Equipment Logging Operations. Soon after, they formed the California Registered Apprenticeship Forest Training program. Shasta College used $3.5 million in grant funds to buy the equipment pre-apprentices use.
次对话促成了学院与19家木材公司之间的正式合作，共同开设了"重型设备伐木操作"职前培训课程。不久后，双方又共同创建了"加州注册学徒制森林培训计划"。沙斯塔学院利用350万美元的补助金资金，为学员购置了职前培训所需的专业设备。
Related: Apprenticeships are a trending alternative to college but there’s a hitch
相关报道：学徒制是大学的一种趋势，但有一个问题
Logging instruction takes place on land owned by Sierra Pacific Industries lumber company — which does not employ its own loggers and so relies on companies like Creekside Lumber to fell and transport logs to mills.
伐木作业在塞拉太平洋工业木材公司拥有的林地上进行——该企业本身不雇佣伐木工，因此依赖溪畔木材等公司进行林木采伐并将原木运输至加工厂。
Each semester, 10 student loggers like Knight take the pre-apprenticeship course at Shasta College. Nearly all are hired upon completion. Once employed, they continue their work as apprentices in the forest training program, which Shasta College runs in partnership with employers like Gannon. State apprenticeship funds help employers offset the cost of training new workers, as well as the lost productivity of on-the-job mentors.
每学期，夏斯塔学院都有10名像奈特这样的学生伐木工参加预学徒制，结业后几乎全员都能获得聘用。正式入职后，他们将作为学徒继续参与由夏斯塔学院与甘农等雇主联合开展的森林实训计划。加州学徒培训基金可帮助雇主抵消新员工培训成本，同时补偿在职导师因指导工作损失的生产效率。
For Creekside Logging — a 22-person company — working with Shasta College makes participation in the apprenticeship program possible.Gannon’s company often trained new loggers, only to have them back out of the job months later. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to train a new worker, and Creekside couldn’t afford to keep taking the financial risk. Now Gannon has a steady flow of committed employees, trained at the college rather than on his payroll. Workers who complete the pre-apprenticeship know what they’re getting into — working outdoors in the cold all day, driving big machines and cutting down trees.
对于仅有22名员工的"溪畔伐木公司"而言，与沙斯塔学院合作为其参与学徒制提供了可能。公司老板甘农过去经常遇到这样的困境：耗费大量成本培训的新伐木工，往往工作数月便离职。培养一名新员工的成本可能高达数万美元，这样的财务风险让小企业难以持续承担。如今通过学院培训而非在职培训的模式，甘农获得了稳定的人才输送渠道。完成预备学徒课程的工人们都清楚他们将面对的工作场景——终日户外严寒作业、驾驶大型机械和砍伐树木
Workers who complete the apprenticeship, Gannon said, are generally looking for a career and not just a seasonal job.
甘农说，完成学徒制的工人通常都在寻找一份职业，而不仅仅是一份季节性的工作。
“You get folks that are going to show up every day,” Gannon said. “They got to test drive the career and know they like heavy equipment. They want to work in the woods. The college has solved that for us.”
甘农表示："现在招到的都是能坚持每日出勤的员工。他们在学院里已经试驾过这个职业，知道自己喜欢操作重型设备，也愿意在森林里工作。学院帮我们解决了这个难题。"
Apprentices benefit too. Workers who didn’t grow up around a trade can try it out, which for some means tracking down an elusive pathway into the work. Kyra Lierly grew up in Redding, about 30 miles west of Shingletown, and previously worked for the California Department of Forestry as a firefighter. She’s used to hard work, but when she looked into getting a job as a logger she couldn’t find a way in. Some companies had no office phone or website, she says. Jobs were given out casually, by word of mouth.
学徒同样受益匪浅。对于那些并非在某个行业环境中成长起来的工人来说，这提供了一个尝试的机会，对某些人而言，这相当于找到了一条进入该行业的神秘通道。凯拉·利尔里在雷丁长大（此地距离辛格尔顿以西约30英里），此前曾担任加州林业消防局的消防员。她早已习惯艰苦的工作，但当她试图寻找伐木工的工作时，却不得其门而入。她表示，有些公司既没有办公电话，也没有官方网站，工作机会往往通过口头随意分配
“A lot of logging outfits are sketchy, and I wanted to work somewhere safe,” said Lierly, 25. She worked as an apprentice with Creekside Lumber but is taking a break while she completes an internship at Sierra Pacific Industries, a lumber producer, and gets a certificate in natural resources at Shasta College.
"很多伐木公司都不太正规，我想找个安全的地方工作，"25岁的利尔里说道。她曾在克里克赛德木材公司当过学徒，但目前正在休整，因为她正在木材生产商塞拉太平洋工业公司，同时还在沙斯塔学院攻读自然资源证书课程。
“The apprenticeship made forestry less intimidating because the college isn’t going to partner with any company that isn’t reputable,” Lierly said.
利尔利说："这种学徒制让林业工作显得不那么吓人了，因为学院只会与信誉良好的企业合作。"
Related: In spite of a growing shortage in male-dominated vocations, women still aren’t showing up
相关背景：尽管男性主导行业的劳动力短缺日益加剧，但女性从业者数量仍未显著增长。
Apprenticeships, with their combination of hands-on and classroom learning, are found in many union halls but, until now, was not known to be common practice in the forested sites of logging crews.
学徒制，结合了实践与课堂学习，这种模式虽在许多工会会所中颇为常见，但此前从未被认为在伐木工队伍的林区作业中广泛存在。
State and federally registered apprenticeships have gained popularity in recent years as training tools in health care, cybersecurity and telecommunications.
近年来，在医疗保健、网络安全和电信等行业，由州政府和联邦政府注册的学徒制培训项目日益受到青睐。
Federal funding grew steadily from $145 million in 2018 to more than $244 million during the last years of the Biden administration. That money was used to support apprenticeships in traditional building trades as well as industries that don’t traditionally offer registered apprenticeships, including teaching and nursing.
联邦资金从2018年的1.45亿美元稳步增长，在拜登政府执政的最后几年已超过2.44亿美元。这些资金被用于支持传统建筑行业的学徒制，以及通常不提供注册学徒项目的行业（包括教学和护理领域）。
The investment aims to address the shortage of skilled workers. The number of working adults in the U.S. doesn’t align with the number of skilled jobs, a disparity that is only slowly recovering after the pandemic.
这项投资旨在解决熟练工人短缺的问题。美国在职成年人的数量与技术工作的数量不一致，这一差距在大流行之后才缓慢恢复。
Labor shortages hit especially hard in rural areas, where trades like logging have an outsized impact on their local economies. For regional heritage trades like logging, just a few apprentices can make the difference between staying in business and shutting down.
劳动力短缺对农村地区打击尤为严重，伐木业等传统行业对当地经济影响巨大。对于伐木这类地域性传统行业而言，能否维持运营往往取决于能否招到寥寥数名学徒工。
“There’s a common misconception of registered apprentices that they’re only in the building trades when most are in a variety of sectors,” said Manny Lamarre, who served as deputy assistant secretary for employment and training with the Labor Department during the Biden administration. More than 5,000 new occupations have registered with the department to offer apprenticeships since 2021, he said. “We can specifically support unique small occupations in rural communities where a lot of people are retiring.”
拜登政府时期担任劳工部就业培训副助理部长的曼尼·拉马尔表示："人们普遍对注册学徒制存在误解，认为只存在于建筑业，但实际上大多数项目覆盖多个行业。"他指出，自2021年以来，已有超过5000种新职业在劳工部注册了学徒计划。"我们可以专门扶持农村社区那些面临大量退休人员的特色小众职业。"
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who was confirmed earlier this month, said in her confirmation hearing that she supports apprenticeships. But ongoing cuts make it unclear what the new federal role will be in supporting such programs.
美国教育部长琳达·麦克马洪（本月刚获参议院确认通过）在提名听证会上曾表态支持学徒制项目。但由于联邦教育经费持续削减，新政府将通过何种方式支持这类职业培训项目尚不明朗。
However, “sharing the capacity has been an important way to get apprenticeships into rural and small employers,” said Vanessa Bennett, director at the Center for Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning at the nonprofit Jobs for the Future. It’s helpful when employers partner with a nonprofit or community college that can sponsor an apprenticeship program, as Shasta College does, Bennett said.
然而，非营利组织"未来就业"下属的学徒制与工作本位学习中心主任瓦妮莎·贝内特指出："共享培训资源是让农村地区和小型企业参与学徒制的关键途径。"她举例说明，当企业像沙斯塔学院那样与非营利机构或社区学院合作——由后者作为学徒项目的承办方时，这种模式就能有效运转。
Once Knight, the student logger, completes the heavy equipment pre-apprenticeship, he plans to return to his hometown of Oroville, about 100 miles south of Shingletown. His tribe — the Berry Creek Rancheria of Tyme Maidu Indians — is starting its own logging crew, and Knight will be one of only two members trained to use some of the most challenging pieces of logging equipment.
曾当过骑士的学生伐木工奈特在完成重型设备学徒制前培训后，计划返回家乡奥罗维尔——该镇位于辛格尔顿以南约100英里处。他所属的部落"莓溪牧场泰姆梅杜印第安人"正在组建自己的伐木队，而奈特将成为团队中仅有的两名受过专业培训、能操作最具挑战性伐木设备的成员之一。
“This program is awesome,” said Knight, 24. “It’s really hands-on. You learn as you go and it helps to have a great instructor.”
"这个项目太棒了，"24岁的奈特说道，"它非常注重实践操作。你可以在实践中学习，而且有一位优秀的指导员真的很有帮助。"
Across the country in Maine, a community college is helping to train apprentices for jobs at heritage oyster, mussel and kelp farms that have struggled to find enough workers to meet the growing demand for shellfish. Often classified as seasonal work, aquaculture jobs can become year-round careers for workers trained in both harvesting shellfish and planning for future seasons.
在缅因州，一所社区学院正帮助培训学徒，为传统牡蛎、贻贝和海藻养殖场输送人才——这些养殖场一直难以招到足够工人来满足日益增长的贝类需求。水产养殖工作通常被视为季节性工种，但对于那些既掌握贝类采收技术又懂得未来养殖规划的受训工人而言，这可以成为一份全年稳定的职业。
“I love the farm work and I feel confident that I will be able to make a full-length career out of this,” said Gabe Chlebowski, who completed a year-long apprenticeship with Muscongus Bay Aquaculture, which harvests in Damariscotta, Maine. A farm boy from rural Pennsylvania, Chlebowski worked in construction and stone masonry after high school. When his parents moved to Maine, he realized that he wanted a job on the water. With no prior experience, he applied for an oyster farming apprenticeship and was accepted.
"我热爱农场工作，而且有信心把这份事业长久做下去，"加布·赫莱博夫斯基说道。他刚刚完成了在缅因州达马里斯科塔海域进行养殖的穆斯康格斯湾水产公司为期一年的学徒培训。这位来自宾夕法尼亚州乡村的农场男孩，高中毕业后曾从事建筑和石匠工作。当父母搬到缅因州后，他意识到自己渴望从事与水相关的工作。尽管毫无经验，他仍申请了牡蛎养殖学徒岗位并成功入选。
“I was the youngest by five years and the only person who’d never worked on water,” said Chlebowski, 22. “I grew up in a landlocked state surrounded by corn fields. I had the work ethic and no idea what I was doing in boats.”
22岁的克莱博斯基说："我比其他人至少小了五岁，而且是唯一一个从未接触过水上作业的人。我在一个被玉米地包围的内陆州长大，虽然工作态度没问题，但对船舶作业完全一窍不通。"
Related: Modern apprenticeships offer path to career — and college
相关阅读：现代学徒制为职业发展开辟新路径——还可获得大学学历
The apprenticeship program was launched in 2023 by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which joined with the Maine Aquaculture Association and Educate Maine to create a yearlong apprenticeship with Southern Maine Community College. Apprentices take classes in shellfish biology, water safety, skiff driving and basic boat maintenance. Grants helped pay for the boots, jackets and fishing bibs apprentices needed.
该学徒制由缅因湾研究所于2023年启动，该机构与缅因州水产养殖协会及"教育缅因"组织合作，联合南缅因社区学院开设了为期一年的养殖课程。学员需学习贝类生物学、水上安全、小艇驾驶及基础船只维护等课程。项目通过资助款项为学徒们购置了必备的防水靴、防风夹克和捕鱼工作裤等装备。
“The workforce here was a bottleneck,” said Carissa Maurin, aquaculture program manager for GMRI. New workers with degrees in marine biology were changing their minds after starting training at aquaculture farms. “Farms were wasting time and money on employees that didn’t want to be there.”
"这里的劳动力曾是制约发展的瓶颈，"缅因湾研究所水产养殖项目经理卡丽莎·莫林指出。许多拥有海洋生物学学位的新员工在养殖场开始培训后却选择放弃。"养殖场把时间和金钱浪费在了根本不想待下去的雇员身上。"
Chlebowski completed the apprenticeship at Muscongus Bay in September. He learned how to repair a Yamaha outdoor motor, how to grade oysters and how to work on a 24-foot, flat-bottom skiff. He stayed on as an employee, working at the farm on the Damariscotta River — the oyster capital of New England. The company is known for two varieties of oysters: Dodge Cove Pemaquid and Wawenauk.
9月，赫莱鲍斯基在马斯康格斯湾完成了学徒制。他学会了修理雅马哈船外发动机、给牡蛎分级，以及操作24英尺长的平底小艇。此后他留在公司成为正式员工，在达马里斯科塔河（新英格兰牡蛎之都）的养殖场工作。该公司以两个牡蛎品种闻名：道奇湾佩马克威德牡蛎和瓦维诺克牡蛎。
Oyster farming generates local pride, Chlebowski said. The Shuck Station in downtown Damariscotta gives oyster farmers a free drink when they come in and there’s an annual summer shucking festival. But the company is trying to provide careers, Chlebowski said, not just high-season jobs.
奇莱博夫斯基表示，牡蛎养殖业为当地带来了自豪感。达马里斯科塔市中心的"开蚝站"会为前来送货的养殖户提供免费饮品，每年夏季还会举办开蚝节。但他强调，公司致力于提供可持续的职业发展而不仅是旺季临时工作。
“It can be hard to make a career out of farming, but it’s like any trade,” he said, adding that there is work to do year-round. “Welding and HVAC have trade schools and apprenticeships. Why shouldn’t aquaculture?”
奇莱博夫斯基坦言："务农谋生固然不易，但这门手艺与其他行当并无二致。"他强调养殖业其实四季都有活计，"电焊和暖通行业有技校和学徒制，水产养殖为何就不能有？"
Chlebowski’s apprenticeship turned into a career. Back in Shingletown, students in the logging program hope for the same result when they finish.
Chlebowski的学徒制经历最终成就了他的职业生涯。而在Shingletown，参加伐木课程的学生们也期待着在毕业时能获得同样的成果。
Until then, they spend Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the woods learning how to operate and maintain equipment. Tuesdays and Thursdays are spent on Shasta College’s Redding campus, where the apprentices take three classes: construction equipment operation, introduction to forestry and wood products and milling.
在此期间，他们每周一、三、五在森林里学习如何操作和维护设备，周二和周四则在沙斯塔学院雷丁校区上课，学习三门课程：工程机械操作、林业与木制品基础以及木材加工。
At the end of the semester, students demonstrate their skills at a showcase in the Shingletown woods. Logging company representatives will attend and scout for workers. Students typically get offers at the showcase. So far, 50 students have completed the pre-apprenticeship program and most transitioned into full apprenticeships. Fifteen people have completed the full apprenticeship program and now earn from $40,000 to $90,000 a year as loggers.
学期末，学生们将在辛格尔顿森林的技能展示会上展示所学技艺。伐木公司代表将到场物色潜在员工，学员通常在展示会上就能获得工作邀约。截至目前，已有50名学员完成预备学徒制，其中大部分顺利晋升为正式学徒。另有15人完成全部学徒制，现作为职业伐木工年收入可达4万至9万美元。
Related: Some people going into the trades wonder why their classmates stick with college
相关话题：一些选择进入技工行业的人不禁疑惑，为何昔日的同窗仍执着于大学之路
Mentorship is at the heart of apprenticeships. On the job, new workers are paired with more experienced loggers who pass on knowledge and supervise the rookies as they complete tasks. Pre-apprentices at Shasta College learn from Jonas Lindblom, the program’s heavy equipment and logging operations instructor.
师徒制是学徒培训的核心。在实际工作中，新手会与经验丰富的伐木工结对，由老手传授知识并在新人完成任务时进行监督。在沙斯塔学院，预备学徒们师从该项目的重型设备与伐木操作指导师乔纳斯·林德布洛姆。
At the logging site, Lindblom watches as a tall sugar pine slowly falls and thuds to the ground. Lindblom’s father, grandfathers and great-grandfather all drove trucks for logging companies in Northern California.
在伐木现场，林德布洛姆注视着一棵高大的糖松缓缓倒下，轰然坠地。他的父亲、祖父和曾祖父都曾在北加州的伐木公司担任卡车司机。
This is a good area for apprentices to “just be able to learn at their pace,” he said. “They’re not pushed and they can get comfortable in the machines without developing bad habits along the way.”
他说：“这个区域很适合学徒‘按照自己的节奏学习’，他们不会受到催促，可以慢慢熟悉机器操作，同时避免养成不良习惯。”
Lindblom, who studied agriculture education at Chico State University, spent all his breaks during college working as a logger. He works closely with the logging companies that partner with the program to make sure he’s teaching up-to-date practices. It’s better for new loggers to learn in this outdoor classroom, he said, than on the job.
曾在奇科州立大学攻读农业教育的林德布洛姆，大学期间的所有假期都在从事伐木工作。如今他与参与该项目的伐木公司密切合作，确保所授内容符合行业最新实践。他表示，相比在实际工作中摸索，新手伐木工在这个"户外课堂"学习效果更佳。
“The majority of these students did not grow up in logging families,” he said. “This is a great opportunity to pass on this knowledge and share where the industry is going.”
他说道：“这些学生大多并非出身于伐木世家。这是一个传承行业知识、分享未来走向的绝佳机会。”
Contact editor Christina A. Samuels at 212-678-3635 or samuels@hechingereport.org.
联系编辑克里斯蒂娜·A·塞缪尔斯，电话：212-678-3635，邮箱：samuels@hechingereport.org。
This story about learning on the job was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.
这篇关于在职学习经历的报道由非营利性独立新闻机构"赫辛格报告"制作，该机构长期关注教育领域的公平性与创新实践。欢迎订阅《赫辛格报告》新闻通讯。
