“What should architectural internship be?” I want us as a profession to explore this question, but how. First, let us compare our profession to other professions to see our current state and then describe a new way to conduct internship for reform. Through this examination and reform, a better, stronger profession will arrive.

Very few other professions with our level of responsibility allow for as much freedom as we enjoy. In comparing the requirements to practice some of the other most important jobs in our society: doctors and lawyers, one can see the disparity. To practice the other professions, you simply must prove your competence to be allowed in the exam room or courtroom. Would you take your child to a doctor that has not passed his boards, seek the counsel of a lawyer who has not passed the bar, or have your house designed by an
architect who is not registered? These examples should inspire the same reaction, but for many in our society, the first two would never be considered and the latter could easily be accepted. Yes, it is true that you must be registered to stamp drawings, but you certainly
don’t have to be registered to do architectural work for a firm, even if you are 30, 60, or 90. Maybe this is okay to some, but it does lessen the importance of a license.

Here is how we eliminate the apathy created by the current system. The profession of architecture must require professionals to be registered, within a limited amount of time. That means that the profession must begin to enlist rules that many professionals will
resist. We should adopt something similar to the engineers system, where recent graduates take a test to become Architects in Training. Without this, recent graduates don’t get a job out of school; the profession sets an example to young professionals and the education system. Upon 3 years of internship, with guidelines similar to IDP, the Architect in Training has a two-year period to take exams to become a Registered Architect. After that period, the profession must get tough and enforce the rules. If a professional is not registered after that five-year period, the professional is out of work until they pass the exams. With these rules, and this is critical, must come reason, because learning why I need to learn something is as important as learning that certain something. Simply put, you must not only tell me I have to, but why it is good for me.

Is our profession in dire straights today? No. Could our profession do a few things to tighten our belts? Yes. I personally believe that creativity is a huge part of our profession, but also understand that we must have a standard and basic knowledge of certain things to be credible as architects. If we all understood this and could prove our competence, we could conceivably tighten the belt of the profession and make it stronger.