Architecture (Students) Rant
Mar. 15th, 2009 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
remulaSo, this has been a long-time coming. I totally think about writing this every once-in-a-while whenever something related comes up, and yeah. Obviously something came up just now, so I figured, good time to write about it, since I'm trying to post again.
I go on Facebook and, at the top of my newsfeed, there is this:
Arch Student #1:....FINALS LOOM...which is very unfortunate
Arch Student #2: what finals, Arch Student #1? we are architecture. i.e. we have no finals/they don't matter...
Arch Student #3: arce. and arce project.
Arch Student #2: frivolous. and unnecessary.
Arch Student #3: agreed.
And there it is -- what Arch Student #2 said, the "[finals] don't matter" and "[finals are] frivolous. and unnecessary". If there's ONE thing I hate about architecture, is THAT kind of attitude, right there.
I HATE that architecture students put EVERYTHING into architecture and studio, and NOTHING into everything else. Granted, that is a generalization, and not everyone does that, but the majority does, and seeing as I'm surrounded by these types of people, I have to acknowledge it and keep my negative comments to myself around these people, or else they'll come verbally attack me in packs until I revise my statement into something "more appropriate" (speaking from experience here!). So yes. The only time I can complain about this is to my friend Teresa or to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aznearthdragon or whatever.
Anyway, the point is, mostly everyone has the opinion (and most even say it straight out) that "Architecture is my LIFE!", except, of course, it's only their SCHOOL LIFE and they have plenty fun partying and all that. When it comes to school, however, it''s like, "ditch this class, ditch that class". "Study for GE class? Ehhh, I have architecture to do" and everything else under the sun. And then, when they end up doing not so hot in a class, there's always, "Whatever, it's not like we need a high GPA anyway" and yeah.
You know when you hear people saying that grades don't matter, you assume (almost always correctly) that they don't have good grades.
As you can tell, I'm VERY bitter about this. I mean, maybe this is so "obvious" to them, but to me, it's like a slap in the face. I mean, I'm not what you would call a "hardcore" architecture student -- I know that I'm not as into it as a lot of people, but still. There's a reason that our architecture program is so highly regarded, and when I ended up going here, my only saving grace (seeing that most people DON'T know about Cal Poly) was that the architecture program is constantly ranked 2nd or 3rd in the nation. This, of course, means absolutely NOTHING if the students don't give even try in anything besides architecture. I feel like this is giving architecture students a bad reputation -- too busy, too lazy, always in need of extensions, etc. from the rest of the campus. Seriously, what does this say? It's like, there are things like, "oh, architects suck at math" and "architects can't write" and stuff like that, and I feel offended because, OMG, I can and I think everything else is JUST as important and then there's the feeling of, "WHY IS EVERYONE BRINGING ME DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL?!~" and it just pisses. me. OFF. >O
And yeah... I know I'm being somewhat unreasonable, but in the end, for me, it all boils down to, if you're making the commitment to the class by taking it, the LEAST you can do is PUT IN THE EFFORT. If not, don't take the class. If you can't move on without taking the class, well TOUGH. That obviously means that you are committed to graduating and therefore are committed to the program. SO PUT IN THE FREAKIN' EFFORT! >O
Seriously though, I think that just shows your work ethic -- it's the "I can handle what I'm committing to and I don't overextend myself to the extreme that I can only do well in one area or poorly in all" kinda thing, and that's admirable. Getting C-'s and D's just to move on because you don't care is NOT. Especially for people that are only taking ONE other class besides studio and practice (core major classes). If you only have ONE other thing to focus on besides architecture and you can't even put in the effort to get a good grade, you might as well just GTFO. Seriously. No respect for those people, at ALL.
Finally, my last thoughts on this are the people who use their studios as an excuse. The ones who go, "I have Fowler studio" because everyone knows that Fowler is hard and gives a lot of work. And then, because they're in Fowler studio, or whatever other professor has that sort of reputation, always say things like, (when recommending to other students) "Don't take anything else if you're taking Fowler. Seriously, there's no time for anything else. He just give you SO much work!" and yeah. I don't care HOW much work Fowler (or any other studio professor) gives you -- there's still time to focus on your other classes. Sure, you might not be able to take the usual 16/17 units and might be bumped down to just 12/13 units, but honestly -- 12/13 units just means ONE EXTRA NON-ARCHITECTURE CLASS. DEAL WITH IT! See the above!
Okay, that was really long, but it's something that really pisses me off. If there's something wrong with what I said, I want to know, 'cause I can vaguely see where most people are coming from with their opinions, but even so, I still don't agree. I know I complain a lot about my workload, but I always know that it's my fault for taking it on. Also, I don't blow off my other classes, no matter how much I complain, so it's not the complaining that pisses me off as much as the people who complain about their other classes, and then blow it off after acting like the other classes were going to put a dent into their time. x_x
~Remula
I go on Facebook and, at the top of my newsfeed, there is this:
Arch Student #1:....FINALS LOOM...which is very unfortunate
Arch Student #2: what finals, Arch Student #1? we are architecture. i.e. we have no finals/they don't matter...
Arch Student #3: arce. and arce project.
Arch Student #2: frivolous. and unnecessary.
Arch Student #3: agreed.
And there it is -- what Arch Student #2 said, the "[finals] don't matter" and "[finals are] frivolous. and unnecessary". If there's ONE thing I hate about architecture, is THAT kind of attitude, right there.
I HATE that architecture students put EVERYTHING into architecture and studio, and NOTHING into everything else. Granted, that is a generalization, and not everyone does that, but the majority does, and seeing as I'm surrounded by these types of people, I have to acknowledge it and keep my negative comments to myself around these people, or else they'll come verbally attack me in packs until I revise my statement into something "more appropriate" (speaking from experience here!). So yes. The only time I can complain about this is to my friend Teresa or to
aznearthdragon or whatever. Anyway, the point is, mostly everyone has the opinion (and most even say it straight out) that "Architecture is my LIFE!", except, of course, it's only their SCHOOL LIFE and they have plenty fun partying and all that. When it comes to school, however, it''s like, "ditch this class, ditch that class". "Study for GE class? Ehhh, I have architecture to do" and everything else under the sun. And then, when they end up doing not so hot in a class, there's always, "Whatever, it's not like we need a high GPA anyway" and yeah.
You know when you hear people saying that grades don't matter, you assume (almost always correctly) that they don't have good grades.
As you can tell, I'm VERY bitter about this. I mean, maybe this is so "obvious" to them, but to me, it's like a slap in the face. I mean, I'm not what you would call a "hardcore" architecture student -- I know that I'm not as into it as a lot of people, but still. There's a reason that our architecture program is so highly regarded, and when I ended up going here, my only saving grace (seeing that most people DON'T know about Cal Poly) was that the architecture program is constantly ranked 2nd or 3rd in the nation. This, of course, means absolutely NOTHING if the students don't give even try in anything besides architecture. I feel like this is giving architecture students a bad reputation -- too busy, too lazy, always in need of extensions, etc. from the rest of the campus. Seriously, what does this say? It's like, there are things like, "oh, architects suck at math" and "architects can't write" and stuff like that, and I feel offended because, OMG, I can and I think everything else is JUST as important and then there's the feeling of, "WHY IS EVERYONE BRINGING ME DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL?!~" and it just pisses. me. OFF. >O
And yeah... I know I'm being somewhat unreasonable, but in the end, for me, it all boils down to, if you're making the commitment to the class by taking it, the LEAST you can do is PUT IN THE EFFORT. If not, don't take the class. If you can't move on without taking the class, well TOUGH. That obviously means that you are committed to graduating and therefore are committed to the program. SO PUT IN THE FREAKIN' EFFORT! >O
Seriously though, I think that just shows your work ethic -- it's the "I can handle what I'm committing to and I don't overextend myself to the extreme that I can only do well in one area or poorly in all" kinda thing, and that's admirable. Getting C-'s and D's just to move on because you don't care is NOT. Especially for people that are only taking ONE other class besides studio and practice (core major classes). If you only have ONE other thing to focus on besides architecture and you can't even put in the effort to get a good grade, you might as well just GTFO. Seriously. No respect for those people, at ALL.
Finally, my last thoughts on this are the people who use their studios as an excuse. The ones who go, "I have Fowler studio" because everyone knows that Fowler is hard and gives a lot of work. And then, because they're in Fowler studio, or whatever other professor has that sort of reputation, always say things like, (when recommending to other students) "Don't take anything else if you're taking Fowler. Seriously, there's no time for anything else. He just give you SO much work!" and yeah. I don't care HOW much work Fowler (or any other studio professor) gives you -- there's still time to focus on your other classes. Sure, you might not be able to take the usual 16/17 units and might be bumped down to just 12/13 units, but honestly -- 12/13 units just means ONE EXTRA NON-ARCHITECTURE CLASS. DEAL WITH IT! See the above!
Okay, that was really long, but it's something that really pisses me off. If there's something wrong with what I said, I want to know, 'cause I can vaguely see where most people are coming from with their opinions, but even so, I still don't agree. I know I complain a lot about my workload, but I always know that it's my fault for taking it on. Also, I don't blow off my other classes, no matter how much I complain, so it's not the complaining that pisses me off as much as the people who complain about their other classes, and then blow it off after acting like the other classes were going to put a dent into their time. x_x
~Remula
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
sympathy
Re: sympathy
Date: 2009-03-17 12:50 am (UTC)~Remula
no subject
Date: 2009-03-21 11:05 pm (UTC)I'm taking Japanese (as a minor, and not really pursuing it as a career but mainly to satisfy my passion for it), and I work so hard doing the homework and learning words for quizzes and such, and there are Japanese majors in the class who blow off homework and don't study and have just an attitude of "Oh we'll pass with a C, yes!" It's really frustrating to hear that when they ARE able to major in something I want to but can't...