The Intern Trap
The following is from "'The Intern Trap' Revisited"by Thomas Fisher, Assoc. AIA
Professor and Dean, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of Minnesota
This and more can been seen at (http://committees.architects.org/idp/interntrap-revisit.pdf)
In 1994, I wrote an article for Progressive Architecture, entitled “The Intern Trap,” that focused on the problem of well-known firms either not paying their interns or using sleights-of-hand, such as calling their interns “consultants,” to avoid paying health benefits or withholding taxes. The American Institute of Architects and The American Institute of Architecture Students responded with policies that strongly discouraged members and firms from engaging in such activities, and that—plus the very real criminal penalties that come with violations of labor or tax laws in many instances—seems to have greatly reduced the incidence of such behavior.
That does not mean that architecture interns have no more challenges, however. As the research and commentary in this issue of AIA | J show, interns often remain underutilized, overlooked, poorly paid, and pigeonholed in many firms. Surveys conducted by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, the AIA National Associates Committee, and ArchVoices reveal the extent to which interns have limited exposure to many aspects of architecture practice, receive relatively little mentoring within firms, remain at the bottom of the office pay scale, and struggle against being labeled the “CAD jockey.”
There are signs of hope. The profession has begun to recognize firms that treat their interns well, one of which is profiled on page 13 in this issue. And two Internship Summits, reported on here, drew attention to the very real problems the newest members of our profession face.
The problems of interns demand our attention, since the challenges they face are precisely the ones the profession faces as a whole. In not valuing the knowledge of interns, we learn to devalue our knowledge as architects. In not mentoring our interns, we learn to expect little collegiality from our colleagues. In not paying interns better, we learn to accept inadequate compensation ourselves. When we exploit others, we leave ourselves open to exploitation.
How we treat the most vulnerable members of our profession determines how we will be treated by clients and communities, consultants and contractors. If we are to change the conditions of architecture practice, then it begins right here—with interns.
posted by Lisa @ 4:28 PM
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