Activity

Here is my 2centavos worth…

As a former educator: I see any LA curriculum to be a foundation of sorts to an any budding landscape architect. We can teach the person in theory how do things, and be responsible for things (stewards of the environment, etc..), but in the end, it is through that budding landscape architect’s own free will what he/she will do with it or how well he/she will do. There is in no way each educator can control what each of his/her student learns or gets assimilated into the brain. It goes back to my belief of teaching a person to fish rather than just giving them the fish. I think that’s why UP is quite successful in that aspect. What scares me now though is the lack of faculty. Most of the faculty are nearing or near retirement age. Anyways, that’s another story.

A student’s view: Its never adequate, it seems like I learned a lot more in practice than in school. UP MTLA program? What’s that? I can’t believe I graduated from that. I think it has improved since I left. Before, I think it was one of the easiest things to accomplish if you dedicate yourself full-time to it with a whole lot of discipline, and skills and talent not really required except for exceptional writing. (remember folks, this is during my time).

Practitioner: I don’t expect any graduate to already know what they are doing fresh out of college. No way, no how. But I do expect them to have the proper foundation, the proper skills to survive. That means, CAD basics, drafting basics, coloring techniques, some basic construction understanding (#4 and #3 rebar, what’s the difference?), some basic office practice. What I really don’t like, which I don’t think any university does, is proper business etiquette (no not ethics, we form that ourselves).

So long winded, so what’s my point… I compare a landscape architect to a house, or retaining wall to be more LA… and LA education as the foundation to that retaining wall. If that retaining wall has all that beauty of crawling vines, proper weeps holes for drainage, proper horizontal and vertical rebars etc.., do you think it will stand without proper a foundation though?