Here at UT there seems to be a great undercurrent of fear that we slip into becoming a "trade-school," meaning that we start teaching "skills" instead of "design" — as they do at A & M. While I have my quarrel with this as some classist nonsense, what is more worrisome is the argument which is mounted to justify this pedagogy. 

More than once I have heard this turn of phrase from a professor: when you graduate into the real world you will be beset with demands, legal, zoning, human, etc., and the worst thing you could possibly do is to run around "putting out fires" because the result will be the loss of overall vision, conceptual clarity, or design intent. 

Not only does this show little faith in the student, but it contributes to the idea that the measure of an architect is found in solitary vision and stubborn adherence to an idea. Nothing could be more preposterous. If an architect is to be an effective leader she or he needs to be flexible and light on their feet, able to react, modify and adjust their ideas graciously — to communicate well, but to listen better. In service of all of these goals the ability to anticipate, find, and manipulate relevant information is critical. The extent to which the school continues to devalue pragmatism as a core skill of the modern architect is a disservice to their students. 

The skill of "putting out fires" should not be undervalued and students should not be shielded from this reality. This pedagogy is both paternalistic and outmoded. UT — I love you, but get over it. Pragmatics are not misaligned or mutually exclusive with 'high design thinking.' Quite to the contrary, it is this very skill — the efficient use of time and software, the ability to interface fluently with consultants and contractors — which are the best tools in the young architects' kit. It is precisely the ability to problem solve ad hoc and on the fly which will allow graduates to maintain control of their vision when things start to heat up. 

You want famous students? Trust that they have artistic integrity. And then give them the skills to quickly move through the ranks of middle management so they can set out as young principles of their own firms while their creative blood still courses fresh, and hot. 

 It seems obvious enough that architecture is evaluated primarily on its visual merits, more so than ever with the increasing capability of computers to generate photo-realistic images of unbuilt projects. 

The supposition that unbuilt architecture should be evaluated visually presumes, however, that human beings interact with the built environment in a similar way, otherwise it is a poor criterion for judgment. I suspect that real people interact with their world in this way only at some times and in some places. Are there better ways to evaluate architecture which align more with the needs of regular people in their everyday existence? I think we can do better than pretty pictures. 

Either that or architects own the fact that their audience is not the normal human, but rather a coterie of taste-makers who have cornered the field and continue to exert a disproportionate sway over what is judged to be important. The seduction of cantilevered glass and steel! Exposed wood grain! With just a dash of showmanship, a dusting of avante-garde idiom, a hint of something exotic (is that Zumthor, Ando? but it hardly matters), and drizzled with technical competence. Lest we forget the fine tables at which the critic dines.

Students often talk about affordable housing, for example, without being able to specify whether this is market-rate or subsidized, and without a clue as to how the monetary policy of subsidization is put in effect. This is not their fault: the fault lies with their educators. Affordable housing is designed in a spreadsheet, not on a drawing board. When $100 a month means the difference between eating or diapers or driving uninsured do you think people give a damn what the building looks like? What matters is quality. Safe, sound, well lit & ventilated, etc., modify this list as you see fit. And it is my belief that the kind of "design thinking" which is taught in schools is, at best, a poor way to achieve these ends, and at worse, counterproductive — because it is either unable or unwilling to find value. But if affordability is to be considered an architectural problem, then spreadsheets must be considered an architectural design tool — and an important one, too. 

What are you really working for?
Who do you want to impress?
Do these goals align?

These are the questions I believe should be on the forefront of young architects' minds.