I've been practicing Architecture in some capacity for going on thirteen years now. I think back to the time when I was in school. I was driven. It seemed that wherever I was in the program was not as good, not as significant as the next level. I always wanted to be at the next level; driven. After I graduated, being and "intern" wasn't good enough either. I wanted to be registered; driven.
I'm down the road a little bit now. Registration has come and the thrill gone...what now? Well, it seems to me that the very thing I was, and maybe still am, is the very thing that I am skeptical of in others. Why? I've met too many who seem to be driven, yet only for the title, the accolade. I can't seem to tell very easily which young people are driven to achieve, and which ones are only after a position. Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being after a position. Its the desire for the recognition without earning it that stops me in my tracks. I wanted to be right, to be good, to be respected for real achievement, not because I held a title. Sadly, too many young architectural graduates only want the title, not the earned respect.
I deal with the fall out of this kind of thinking every day. The way it works its way out in my world is in the form of, how should I say this, let's call it "selfish incompetence.'' Wow, that seems really harsh...but its not. Please, let me explain.
Say, for instance, you are asked to do a job you don't know how to do. Do you admit you don't know how to do it, research methods for doing it, ask others how to do it, do your best at it, have it peer reviewed, correct your mistakes and present your work having learned something? Or, do you make a half-assed attempt at it and turn it in, learn nothing and complain to the boss above the person who assigned the task that insufficient support was offered and what you did was really OK? Or, do you simply complain that you shouldn't have had to have the task assigned to you in the first place, attempt to complete it by researching proper methods and complaining, three quarter assing it and complaining, going through the motions of a peer review and complaining, and turning it in without really learning anything while demanding recognition? I have found that the vast majority of architectural interns I have had the pleasure of being around fall into scenerio three, selfish and incompetent. Selfish, because they want the recognition for the work; incompetent because they don't know how to do it. Most never realizing the effort behind them to get things corrected.
When I was teaching Architecture, I was constantly confronted with students asking me, "What do I have to do to get an A?" "I don't have a specific set of boxes to check off in order for you to receive an A," I would say. "You have to learn, to grow, to push yourself from hear to somewhere by the end of the semester, then we'll see." That never seemed to set well with the majority. Why? What is it about this generation that makes them feel that achievement is a matter of checking off boxes? What ever happened to thinking big, to learning, to achieving, to reaching high? What ever happened to humility and respect and accolades based on actual accomplishment above and beyond what was asked for? When did the A suddenly stand for Average?
I don't want to be average. I don't want to work for people whose only desire is to be average. I think the intern scourge of "Selfish Incompetence" is simply a picture of the majority of young people today. It is a product of the blatant Humanism so rampant in our culture. We have to change this. We have to get back into the race and reach higher. We have to encourage others to reach higher, to achieve with humility. We have to get a handle on the basic fact that it is not all about me!
Our architectural interns need to be challenged to learn, rather than to simply dangle a carrot in front of them with a tag on it labeled "Project Architect." They aren't ready. As a profession, we need to stop treating interns as if they don't matter, they do. Giving them titles so they will work harder is stupid. So is the attitude from that they are a "dime-a-dozen." Both of these promote the selfishness and incompetence in them. Can you see why they are fighting for identity? They are the future of our profession. If we don't help them obtain a vision, who will?
Where will we be then?
I don't want to be average...
