Research Approach

This section of the study examines the transcripts of five individual graduation commencement speeches delivered at various schools of architecture throughout the United States from 2008 through 2017. The speeches are selected through convenience sampling of external documents due to scarcity of available data. Various excerpts from the speeches serve as empirical evidence for this study. Such data is labeled S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5 where each label corresponds to the five individual speakers. The intent of the qualitative analysis conducted in this section is to establish a set of grounded theories in correlation with two major themes.

The themes identified support the following causal-effect case study: Architecture schools are insufficiently training graduates to enter the profession (cause) leading to deprofessionalization of the profession (effect). Two situational themes emerged from inductive analysis of the five speech transcripts: Skills Acquired in School and Architect’s Societal Role.

Skills Acquired in School

Each of the five commencement speakers spoke to graduates about the importance of the creative skills they have acquired through schooling. While three of the speakers glossed over the marketability of architecture graduates, just two spoke of employment prospects in the professional field that the graduates are about to enter. None of the speakers used the title intern in their speeches to describe the upcoming future of the graduates.

Creative problem solving. All five of the speakers commended the graduates on successful acquisition of visual problem solving skills. Three of the speakers focused on the uniqueness of such professional skills in comparison to any other professional field, while one went into depth with the neurological transformation the students most likely experienced as they developed creative skills throughout their schooling years. Another speaker, on the other hand, was dismissive of schooling altogether and insisted, instead, that learning begins upon entering the work force.

You have finished your coursework and you have finished your studios. So now your education can begin. I say that not to disparage or to question anything you have been doing over the last few years, but just to acknowledge what has been the reality of almost everyone’s life. Which is that you learn all kinds of things in your next few years that you never imagined or that you never knew that you didn’t know.

S1

I suspect, the people getting diplomas in those other tents on this campus do not have experience in dismantling a problem, turning it upside down or inside out, redesigning it, and in essence rethinking the fundamental basis for its being. They do not know how to view old never ending world problems from unique angles. They can’t produce under tremendous pressure like you can. You have these skills.

S5

Gainful employment. Employment prospects are directly addressed by just two of the five speakers. Out of these two, one acknowledges that architecture is an underpaid field involving an exhaustive amount of energy, while the other focuses on the lack of leadership prospects for creative people.

There will be days when you will wonder why you became an architect…a career that pays relatively little, demands a huge amount from you, and allows you only occasionally the creative license that got you into it in the first place.

S1

You are the least likely people to be called upon to become leaders of anything ever other than your own creative process; unfortunately, I’m not kidding. You are entering a world that has a deep seated bias against creative people in positions of leadership.

S2

Architect’s Role

All five commencement speakers spoke of preservation of self-identity and the perception of the architect’s role in society. Three of the speakers pressed that architects are an essential component of society, one speaker offered a critical perspective on the dismal social value of architects, and yet another criticized architects for being ignorant of societal values.

Self-identity. The speakers warned against the loss of self-identity after schooling. One speaker referred to incubation of identity during schooling to protect from exposure against external criticism. The rest offered some advice on methods of identity preservation.

You will go to work and they will marginalize you. Don’t take the bait. Don’t put those limits on yourselves. Don’t hide behind your creativity. And don’t spend your whole life in the creative club house. Because all of the really big decisions, the ones that have an impact on your ability to do something great are being made without your voice.

S2

Societal perception. One of the speakers acknowledged that although architects possess unique skills that capture social curiosity, their sheer lack of respect for social values leads to a poor societal perception of the profession. Another speaker impressed that architecture is merely art; therefore, society does not perceive architects as a necessary part of the building industry.

Summary

Findings reveal that architecture graduates have a unique talent that the world is aware of, yet public perception and self-identity of graduates suffers as the architects are consistently compared to artists. Graduates lack basic knowledge and skills to function as an effective member of the professional society.

Discussion

Key finding: Architecture schools are focused on development of spatial problem solving skills. Graduates from these programs experience self-doubt upon realizing that they lack basic skills and qualifications for entry into the profession. Meanwhile, societal perception of the architect as artist is stratified.

Visual-spatial intelligence is one of eight cognitive multiple intelligences identified by Howard Gardner that humans possess. The development of spatial intelligence is the primary curricular subject of architecture schools. In accordance with the speech samples, architecture students must complete extensive, and often repetitive, spatial problem solving exercises during design studio courses. Such studio-based curricula directly correlates with Cary’s assertion that spatial intelligence is a natural biological potential that develops through experimentation (Cary, 2004). However, architecture degrees do not carry the same weight when matched with other major professions (BLS, 2016).

The sheepskin effect asserts that degree holders send positive signals to prospective employers of potential skillsets that will likely yield a more productive workforce (Lovenheim & Turner, 2017). This theory contradicts assertions made by at least one of the commencement speakers that individuals possessing leadership skills even without a degree can outrank architecture graduates; thus, the sheepskin effect may be weakened for architecture graduates.

Architecture, perhaps, is the only professional field to confidently utilize the title of intern for graduates until they achieve licensure. The sole path to licensure can take up to seven additional years after graduation (NCARB, 2017). This prolonged rejection coupled with lack of qualifications to sit for licensing exams leads to the imposter syndrome (Gasalberti, 2014). The longer an architecture graduate is associated with an intern title, the more deeply rooted social inequality becomes (Johnson, 2013).

Recommendations

Policy recommendations include a competitive accreditation process with federal oversight; ethics at the forefront of public policy decisions, including removal of the exam vendor, accreditation body, and their affiliate organization from public office; federal funding to encourage doctorate-level research and listing architecture as a STEM degree; and state-level accountability so that graduates leave school as licensed architects. Licensure Upon Graduation (L.U.G.) must become the norm for architecture schools (Hanlon, 2012).

Extensive research on other cognitive intelligence types identified by Gardner, besides spatial intelligence, must be conducted to identify other dominant intelligence types present in architecture students. For architects to thrive once again, public perception of architecture must shift away from pure art and veer towards building science.