Nearly 90% of the 447 respondents said they had had to work through the night at some point. Almost one-third said they have to do it regularly. Two-thirds of undergraduates said their debt at the end of their course would be £30,000 or above. Despite that, almost a third said they had been asked to work in practice for free...
[One student respondent] said: “A culture of suffering for your art is promoted within education.”
— The Guardian
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5 Comments
The photo above is probably the norm for most schools (it was true for mine). There seemed to be a tacit competition to see who could sleep the least. This didn't always result in great design work, of course, but it was a social reinforcement of a depraved ideal. I think I pulled one or two all-nighters but generally prioritized sleep over competition, and still managed to graduate. Medical science shows that working the graveyard shift is associated with deteriorating health (and worse)... students should really get some sleep and stop worrying so much about competing with their peers, few of whom they will ever see again after school.
Now on the other hand, if those students are more worried about finding a job, and lack of sleep and social competition aren't the main drivers for their anxiety, then they are right to worry!
Personally, I have never found that all-nighters add any real value to your design thinking or capacity: in my view, the inclination to do is build on personal insecurity and the (far-fetched) hope that you could somehow have a brainwave - the result of which with either elevate you to the top of the class or put you across the finish line without having to apologize for not completing your studio work.
Trust me: its ridiculous; get some sleep and try to "blank" your brain when you do. Then wake up early the next morning, hopefully refreshed, go to school very early and get back to work!
Good luck!
mvj.
I rarely pulled all nighters in school. I was almost always in studio on Saturdays though and besides one other guy no one else was. I was in studio between other classes too when others would sleep off their hangovers. Studio at 10 pm on weeknights would be hopping with music and coffee and was too much stimulus for me so I usually wasn't there. My first internship was with a contractor/engineer, not an architect, so I could develop some real skills. They paid me pretty good, more than I was worth I'm sure but they could see the the bigger picture that it was the ethical thing to do to teach and mentor the youth.
... then I married a therapist and then later worked for him. First thing you learn in that profession is that you need to take care of yourself before you can do anything else. What a difference.
Hahaah fucking losers. Oh wait I am 15 years out of school and doing the same.
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