>My reason for shifting to graduate level (not the doctorate level,
>especially not PhD) as the initial professional degree is that architecture
>can only be effectively pursued based on a broad general education
I agree with the above. We have not so much degree inflation as education
deflation, i.e. an undergraduate liberal arts BA from most US colleges is
equivalent to European countries high school diploma. I have met many
architects with degrees who can't write a paragraph. This is a big problem
for our profession because if we can't express ourselves in writing and in
speech then we simply can't make our voices heard and we'll be trivialized
our of existence.
Now, more than ever, architects need to understand how they fit into the
scheme of things, and this includes politics, the economy, the arts and
literature, and the intellectual life of the country, as well as a
broad-based theoretical understanding of their own art/craft/profession.
When I was in MArch program at Berkeley, the best students were those who
came from a liberal arts undergraduate program and at the end of their 3
years they knew more architecture than their counterparts with BArch or BA
in Arch.
My own opinion is that architects need a union. Yes, a good old fashioned
labor union like the ones that work for journalists, teachers, professors,
and the writers, directors, producers etc. who work in Hollywood, TV, and
Broadway. Those are all highly competitive fields like architecture, yet
those groups enjoy far better job security, working conditions and pay.
Right now I'm doing some research on the above topic, looking into how
other "professional" groups organized themselves. I intend to write an
article that will be a kind of manifesto calling for the establishment of
an architects' union or guild.
**********************************
Jonathan Cohen, AIA
246 First St., Suite 203
San Francisco, CA 94105 USA
email: kvetcher@xxxxxxxx
**********************************
>especially not PhD) as the initial professional degree is that architecture
>can only be effectively pursued based on a broad general education
I agree with the above. We have not so much degree inflation as education
deflation, i.e. an undergraduate liberal arts BA from most US colleges is
equivalent to European countries high school diploma. I have met many
architects with degrees who can't write a paragraph. This is a big problem
for our profession because if we can't express ourselves in writing and in
speech then we simply can't make our voices heard and we'll be trivialized
our of existence.
Now, more than ever, architects need to understand how they fit into the
scheme of things, and this includes politics, the economy, the arts and
literature, and the intellectual life of the country, as well as a
broad-based theoretical understanding of their own art/craft/profession.
When I was in MArch program at Berkeley, the best students were those who
came from a liberal arts undergraduate program and at the end of their 3
years they knew more architecture than their counterparts with BArch or BA
in Arch.
My own opinion is that architects need a union. Yes, a good old fashioned
labor union like the ones that work for journalists, teachers, professors,
and the writers, directors, producers etc. who work in Hollywood, TV, and
Broadway. Those are all highly competitive fields like architecture, yet
those groups enjoy far better job security, working conditions and pay.
Right now I'm doing some research on the above topic, looking into how
other "professional" groups organized themselves. I intend to write an
article that will be a kind of manifesto calling for the establishment of
an architects' union or guild.
**********************************
Jonathan Cohen, AIA
246 First St., Suite 203
San Francisco, CA 94105 USA
email: kvetcher@xxxxxxxx
**********************************