There's this bizarre phenomenon in schools of architecture where students become disproportionately preoccupied with pleasing their studio instructors. Let me qualify that — some students seem more concerned with whether or not their professor will like their work instead of what they will learn from them.
These are two entirely different postures toward the classroom. An instructor is there to mentor the student, to help them grow and become a better designer. An instructor isn't a client, or someone's mommy or daddy, they are merely an individual with more experience and knowledge with a responsibility to impart some of that knowledge to a group of students.
That's the key point here — this isn't any group of people one teaches, but rather a group of students. We all know the saying: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Students: if you don't see yourself as a student, school is going to be a drag. In studio, whether it's a final review or a desk crit, instead of thinking to yourself: "I hope they like my work," think "I wonder what feedback they will have for me."
If everyone hates your work, great, what did they hate about it? What can you learn from their feedback? Even if someone is a jerk, you can still learn something from them. Look — there are some bad teachers out there, but there will be bad bosses, co-workers, clients, plan checkers, engineers, and on and on. If you get a lemon, make lemonade.
As the Jewish proverb goes: "Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance."
4 Comments
Good article and on point, thanks Sean Joyner!
Listen, trying to "please" your professor, is a fool's errand. Don't do it, ever. Listen to your own voice, seek advice from your peers, sharpen your tools.
If were I were to call "pleasing" in comes into two different categories, in my perspective, don't think what it's wrong but brash out the authorities that they think design is not great. I know my design is not great, and there's need to be a lot of improvement, but the fact that I have to understand a feedback, is hard. I take it in as a critique, but forealizing that the fact that there's always an education flaw, and there's always something wrong during a pandemic issue.
I would add that you should try to learn from everybody you come across because that's who you'll be working for.
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