There can be a number of reasons for this. A few that come to mind: 

* The teacher is unsure of what scale their objection extends to, i.e. whether the whole concept is bad or just your execution of it. 

* They know they don't like what you're doing, but have no suggestions for improvement. You'll notice that neither of these first two options makes them a very good teacher...

* The teacher doesn't believe you can do any better. There's no point in sending someone back to the drawing board over and over and over again, only to end up with underdeveloped crap at the end of the semester rather than something more developed in hopes that they can help you iron out the details. If you think you need to get pushed harder than you are and think this issue is the culprit, try to develop a relationship with a critic (whether a professor, an older student, a group of peers) with more candor and express that you want to be pushed harder. 

* They have already expressed their objections to your overall concept, but you've continued on despite their objections and seem to have forgotten that they weren't wholly on board in the first place. 

Typically it's the third point Erin made, then the second. The other two are also good possibilities.

Additional reasons include the teacher thinking your project is good but not liking it because it does not aline to their tastes, or the teacher may not like you. Both much less likely but possible.

 

I’m sure this is not the case, but today (based on personal experience as an instructor) I’ve had students do poorly and I gave corresponding poor grades, only to get a call from the dean’s office, politely instructing me to change the grade. Have that happen once or twice changes ones attitude about using poor grades (or crit's) as an incentive to do better….as with everything, it’s easier to do nothing.

Interesting comments, thanks for the input.

Carrera, how do you define "poorly"? Did they not put in enough effort or were they just plain stupid and probably couldn't have done much better? (sorry, tired and can't think of a better word than stupid right now.)

In my case, I am the least advanced of my studio (graduate). I do not have a design background. But I've come SO far from my first semester, my portfolio so far looks like 2 radically different people, that's how much I have improved in a short time. But still, I am up against people with 8 - 10 years of really amazing experience in my studio.  With that in mind, I don't blame my professor for being less enthusiastic about my project when literally every single other person in my studio is a friggin genius (and I do not feel resentful about it at all, I've learned so much from them and they are all supportive).

BUT now that I've read your responses, I wonder if maybe my teacher is hesitating to push me too far/overwhelm me considering my level of skill compared to the rest of the studio?  The project I've taken on this semester is very ambitious and maybe he doesn't want to push it to an unmanageable point, hence his reluctance to say too much.  Either way, it would sometimes be helpful to know one way or the other if I'm on the right track.

Thanks for the input.

You might ask for a meeting and without sounding too needy.... my opener usually is "I'd like to ask your advice......" and just see where it takes you.

Without getting myself in trouble on here, lets just say they didn't do the work, then when they didn't get the result they turned the screws on me and when I didn't change my mind - I got the phone call. I got the message real quick which was the money was more important to the school than what I thought. Happened twice then I just started mailing-it-in... and that can happen with instructors.... learned in life that saying "no" can get expensive, "yes", "you're doing great", passing out A's and doing nothing is cheap....unfortunately you're the one who ends up getting cheated. 

Me? Or him?

That is interesting. I've been in very few studios that were easy A's, I always made a point to avoid those teachers, but It always struck me as odd how few people actually failed.

Maybe that's the reason.

Nat, today you'd have to be a street person to fail.... why fail anybody? Why? What happens if you do? You get hassled. They'll accuse YOU of failing to teach... they start wondering what YOU'RE doing wrong.... just better off keeping the conveyer belt moving... don't kid yourself.

You fail people because you feel a responsibility to the profession and to the public, not to let people become architects who aren't up to the task or aren't putting the work in. You fail people to motivate the rest of the students—if they see people not putting in the work but still doing ok, what's their incentive to do better?

Erin, I understand that, but there are filters further down the conveyor belt that will take of that.

Agreed with Erin and Carrera.

When I was in college it was the norm for critics to be very harsh, students crying at reviews were common.  By grad school there was a lot more "we appreciate your effort" comments being thrown around (as you note you have to read btw the lines that you aren't great, therefore you should be doing better).  Part of this was a directive from the board , through the dean to back off, another was the overall trend to the 'everyone gets an A for effort'.

1. Ask the instructor to give more criticism.  Sometimes just saying 'hey, don't hold back, I know I have a lot to learn and I do better with straight comments, not muddling around'

2. Ask for specific suggestions: precedents, or have them sketch out some options you can explore.  If they can't do this, the problem may be them not you.

Remember that you're paying them to study, the school has a duty to give you the best possible education they can provide.  Part of getting the most out of school is developing relationships with you instructors and getting them to give you the best possible guidance.  Some do better with the carrot, others with the stick.

Do be careful about how you word the 'ask' though; I told my faculty to give it to me, and boy oh boy did they tear into me at the next review... it did help me get my rear into gear though.

Richard – was public, but like you said it probably doesn’t make any difference. Not saying it’s universal, but it’s a factor for students to consider. It’s not like the conveyor belt is in the “Final Assembly Department”, it’s in the “Receiving Department”.

Like 3tk said, if you want more you've got to grab more.