GOODBYE ARKI-TORTURE, HELLO ARKI-TORTURE

This April 25th marks the graduation of the latest batch of students from the College of Architecture of the University of the Philippines. Just as a wedding brings varied reactions from the bride and groom and their respective parents, so does a graduation.

To the students, this represents the culmination of five (or possibly even more) years of plates-producing, structural problem-solving, and reports-making sleepless nights. Deep inside, they are saying to themselves, “At long last, I’m saying goodbye to arki-torture.”

To the administration and faculty, this commemorates yet another feather on their cap, producing a fresh batch of “competent” architects and landscape architects. Deep inside, they are saying to themselves, “At long last, we’re through with another batch of graduates. Thank God those students have already graduated. I can’t stand another semester with them.”

To the parents of the graduating students, this marks the fruition of their hardships of sending their sons and daughters to the “best” architectural college in the country. Deep inside, they are saying to themselves, “At long last, he/she has graduated already. Oh, my little boy/girl is all grown up already.” And then after some pause, “Now he/she can find a job and earn his/her own money.”

To me, looking at this particular event from a distance, I have ambivalent feelings to the entire graduation proceedings. For one, I am happy for my friends and the other students since they have finally graduated. Graduation is still graduation, and it being a graduation, it is by nature, a happy event. It happens just thrice in your lifetime (at least if you are lucky enough to finish college, and possibly there would be even more graduations if you pursue post-graduate degrees) and it will be possibly the last good time to see your batchmates as a group. Besides, aside from freshmen, who else but the graduates receive more attention in banners, streamers and promos from commercial establishments and politicians?

I am also happy for the students’ parents, for them to see their sons and daughters finishing in one of the most arduous, challenging and financially-stressful courses ever (possibly just after medicine and law). To be able to finish it requires not just some academic skill, but also creative skills, technical skills, PR skills, personnel networking skills, financial management skills, time management skills, dietary skills, and of course, diskarte skills.

Yet, at the same time, I can’t help feeling sad for the new graduates in many ways. For one, as with any other graduate, there will be that new burden of having to find a job. The building industry in the Philippines is not exactly a booming industry now, and so most of the new graduates end up being overworked and underpaid. Even fresh architecture graduates who finish at the top of their batch are not exactly a highly-coveted item by the firms either. Unlike say cum laude graduates from other courses like engineering, law or economics who are being sought after by top companies and agencies, architecture graduates are pretty much “expendable” baggage, even short of being “excess” baggage. I even know friends of mine, who finished magna cum laude (magna cum laude!) and are highly-skilled and highly-incompetent individuals, who end up working in a “top” architectural firm for nothing (nothing!) for a few months. They were not even paid lunch or transport allowance! If these supposed crème dela crème of the “top” architecture school in the Philippines are treated like that, how much more an average arki joe with average skills coming from an average architecture school? No wonder many architecture graduates eventually end up in some other profession or in some other country.

Secondly, I can’t also help feeling sorry for the new graduates because of that constant pressure from the parents as well as other peers for them to become a successful practicing architect in the future, earning lots of projects and money, which is quite a paradoxical scenario given the status of the building industry in the country right now and the structure of the architecture profession. Some of them do not want to be architects anymore, while some of them did not want to be architects in the first place. But these same people can’t help thinking that since they have already spent five (or more) years of their lives studying this thing, they seem obligated to be practicing it, and in so doing, it would unulfill that part of the wish about “earning lots of projects and money”.

Thirdly, I can’t help feeling sorry for these new graduates because of the frustration that they might experience caused by all of these. They will be frustrated that their alma matter has not prepared them well to the realities of the profession in terms of knowledge and skills. They will be frustrated about their low-benefits, high-costs job. They will be frustrated that sound principles of design could be violated in place of economics and politics. They will be frustrated of their uncertain future in the industry. And for this year, they will have the additional frustration of visualizing the possibility that the “King”, a former “blacksmith”, will become “the Lord of this Middle Earth” called the Philippines for the next 6 years.

In all of this, I am wondering how the entire architecture industry reacts to the whole graduation thingy. Are they happy to welcome these newbies who will infuse new blood into the industry? Are they welcome to the idea of training new minds and skills who will enrich the practice? Or do they feel a bit worrisome because they have new personnel to have to pay? Or do they feel threatened by the potential new future competitors for projects and commissions?

Or maybe they don’t just feel anything at all?

It’s kinda sad that this graduation thing could raise such disheartening feelings. For the graduates, it’s like finishing one ordeal, only to undertake yet another one, maybe an even harder one. One would have thought that he already has said goodbye to overnights, sleepless nights, caffeine nights, and cuppa-noodles nights. Then they would have to face entities more “ruthless” than the professors, like bosses (who may have been your former professors by the way), fellow office mates, clients, contractors and plotters which don’t work when the construction drawings are due in about 2 hours. And since you are practically being paid peanuts for the time and effort that you put in, it then really feels that it’s like college all over again. Only this time, there is no semestral breaks and there is no “incomplete”.

So this piece won’t sound too apocalyptic, I’ll try to shift my mood, and just think “happy thoughts”. That would be the coming screenings of “Kill Bill Volume 2”, “Spiderman 2” and “Star Wars Episode 3”. And also the release of the Special Extended Edition of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” At least, the future doesn’t look really that bad when you see it in that light, doesn’t it?

Seriously, there is still some light at the end of the tunnel. But it would all depend on how you enter that tunnel and maybe even what tunnel you are entering into. I sincerely believe that there is still hope for the graduates, only if they keep intact their idealism and their hopes, and that they train themselves properly towards their goal. In a society like ours where you see depression almost everywhere, the only thing that will keep you going (aside from your boy/girl friend) is the notion that we all deserve better than this. That notion will push you to continue to work harder, to initiate actions to change the conditions that we are all in, and to not settle for mediocrity. If you unwaver from that resolve, time will eventually reward you accordingly.

I then remember the movie, “The Shawshank Redemption”. In that movie, convicts of Shawshank Prison were stuck with the inhuman like environment in prison, with no hope of seeing the world outside. So they went about their lives in a downcast, routine-like manner, sort of like dead man walking. But Andy Dufresne, a former banker turned prison inmate, went about his life in prison like it was the outside world. He walked in the prison grounds with shoulders upright. He read books. He engaged himself in hobbies. He even went about setting up a library in prison. He even offered his business expertise to the prison wardens. I won’t tell the entire story since it might give the plot away. Suffice to say that in the end, Andy’s hopes and resolve carried him through.

As a closure, I think I’ll offer some advice to all you arki grads out there as you exit one realm and enter another. I know I have not been in this profession and this world long enough to offer wise advice that are time-tested and have been proven to be effective. But at least I’m older, so that alone somehow gives me some additional years of experience as basis for my advices. I’ll make them one-liners so you can quote them to others or make them your slogans. And by the way, they are not listed in order of importance.

“Constantly train and enrich yourselves.”
“Don’t settle for mediocrity.”
“Take place of your actions within the bigger picture of life.”
“Get in touch with non-architects.”
“Watch ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ or other feel-good, inspiring movies at least once every 3 months.”
“You don’t have to take the board exam if you don’t want to.”
“You don’t even have to become an architect if you don’t want to.”
“Write if you want to.”
“Enroll in another course if you want to.”
“Tap on your strengths; downplay your weaknesses.”
“Turn your frustrations and passion into something productive.”
“Listen to inspiring movie theme music like ‘Backdraft’ by Hans Zimmer or ‘Rudy’ by Jerry Goldsmith.”
“Do something that you enjoy, or at least find enjoyment in things that you do.”
“Follow your dreams.”
“Do not lose your ideals.”

In summary, the above “words of wisdom” can be summarized into the rather simpleton slogan of the Starstruck Avengers: “Dream. Believe. Survive.” But I’d rearrange them from least important to most important for more emphasis, and it’ll go something like: “Survive. Believe. Dream.”