because some/many are afraid to deal with the real world... or, they can't put together a wall section and decent set of CDs.

To eat.

Those who can not do, teach. And/or. the architecture profession doesn't pay enough for them to survive, therefore have to take a teaching job on the side and the ones recently out of school are cheap to hire. yes, this profession can be gloomy... sad but true.

Volunteer, uni cafeteria food can be ok I guess... but that's hardly a reason to postpone real work.

I was thinking more of getting a tenure-track position, having a decent salary with medical and other benefits, and feeding your wife and kids. Then do "real" architecture on the side for fun and as an insurance in case the school goes tits up.

my experience was that most professors do not have ph.d.s

i think it's a bad sign that your school is bringing in 'visiting' professors and recent grads.  as with any job, the more you do it, the better you get at it.  teaching isn't just about having an opinion and forcing subordinates to agree with you so you can feel good about yourself, it's also about teaching and doing paperwork and giving people grades.  do your visiting professors have experience in actually teaching?

also, i think most people go into that job because they want to drop out of real-life

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. 

Fantasy projects are more fun than strip malls. 

Well from my experience about half of my professors were truly there because they loved to teach.  They were passionate about teaching and some of them were also practicing architects in US or abroad.  The other half were there more for the love of academia.  They enjoyed research, theoretical projects, and writing.  Some of them happened to be good teachers as well, some were meh.  Mostly good experience.  

I started teaching last year after a few years in the profession, and I can tell you that I do it in order to give back to the school and the architectural community, and I think I have something small but relevant to offer incoming students.  

After some real letdowns early on, I've been incredibly successful in my short career so this isn't about not being able to hack it in the real world, though I understand the sentiment. Also, there's nothing wrong with deciding that you don't want to deal with the bullshit of the "real" architectural world, including CDs, admin, managing clients and contractors, etc.  There's definitely a place in academia for those who love architecture but know they want no part of the troublesome parts - in fact, from that perspective they sound downright brilliant.

Just like being a great student doesn't mean you'll be a great architect, being a great architect doesn't mean you'll be a great teacher.

I think all work choices are a matter of what you can cope with best. I had a partner that taught his whole career 50/50 – when he couldn’t cope with the office he’d go to school and when he couldn’t cope with school he’d come back to the office – he couldn’t cope with anything - but he did retire early with a pension and full-boat medical and none of us others did.

There is a relatively new architectural school nearby that can’t seem to attract anyone with credentials to teach and is begging area architects to teach there part time. They even asked me but I don’t think I have the juice left to do it. I wonder if this is going to hurt their potential prestige - but if I was looking I think I’d rather be taught by those residing where I’m going rather than be taught by those who have never resided.

The profession is dismall on almost every single level. Few architects build anything inspiring, the profession is controlled by people who openly don't care about architecture. The majority of time is spent trying to reduce the cost of a box. 

The profession is boring, on almost every single level.... so far behind the times, The excitement is non-existent, the hours are long, the pay is shit.

Teaching the hours are short, many of those teaching have exciting projects and practices on the side that do more for the discipline, there is excitement, there is energy, fresh ideas... they matter to society.

Among the riveting opportunities that come with full time academic positions with benefits: office hours, search committees, tenure reviews, departmental politics, NAAB visits, grade appeal hearings, sexual harassment training, curriculum reviews, and teaching the same required class to what feels like the same group of disinterested sophomores every year.

Adjuncts are lucky to miss out on most of these, but for the privilege they make about $12/hour when you factor in everything that goes with the job.

I have always wanted to 'return' to teaching after practice because a) I love teaching and b) the teachers who inspired me the most had come from practice and that was the sort of teaching I wanted to emulate.

Just like you have schools of architecture that are more grounded in theory and others in practice, so do you get faculty who are more aligned with theory and practice.

I loved working, and designing.  I still do.  But I also love teaching.  So I figure I have the best of both worlds by having had 10 years of professional practice and am now moving into teaching while still having the professional network to enable me to do consultancy on the side.

So, everyone's snarky comments aside, yes, some people go into research and theory because that's what attracts them to architecture, and frankly, it's perhaps not as useful for those people to be building things (although many practicing architects are certainly inspired by theory, so they absolutely have a place) .  But other people go in to teaching because they just love teaching and feel they have enough experience to have something valuable to share.

Quan, Nonsequiter, LITS4FormZ, and anyone else who believes any variant of 'those who can't, teach', did you go to school? Was your education really that bad?

You all are welcome to take a week off from your busy professional lives to shadow me as I attend multiple faculty and committee meetings (two today), team building exercises and university training sessions, spend 15 hours a week preparing for 12 hours of classroom time, researching and writing (submitting two articles next week), *and* maintaining a design practice that currently has two art installations and a long term project in the works. If you end up liking this lifestyle as much as I do, you're welcome to apply for a fulltime teaching position, there are only about 50-100 applicants for every one spot available. If you make it and get an offer, you'll probably be taking a 40% pay cut for the privilege, and you'll have to re-apply for your own job approximately every one and a half years. Sound good?

I love doing this more than anything I've ever done, and that includes working on international, high profile projects, with budgets in the billions. There's nothing as exciting as sitting down and working with students who are engaged and ready to learn. In order to teach design, you have to question everything you think you know about it. It's the scariest thing I've ever experienced, and I never want to stop doing it.

sevensixfive.

Yawn.... save the rant for another place. I think you misunderstood.

I've also taught studio if that helps. My problem is with people who move from being students to teacher without working in the real world. How can you teach the profession if all you know is how to make pretty images and spaces? Too many hide in academia because the world outside is scary causing them to make other students think the world is scary too thus forming a student to teacher viscous circle.

On the other hand, I admire professional who return to school to teach the next generation. I've often said my retirement plans involve a phd and teaching.

My point is that this is a series of myths. It's not an easy place to hide, or an easy to place to take retirement. There may be unqualified people teaching part-time temporarily, but that's only because the pay is extremely low, and the turnover is extremely high, and whoever hired them is just looking for a cheap body to fill a timeslot for a bit. Anyone who's trying to hide is just not going to last.