This article was originally published on Common Edge.
The vast majority of practitioners I've known over the years seek well-trained graduates who are ready on Day One to be productive employees. But that's not all an architectural education needs to deliver. Michael Monti—who for the past 20 years has served as executive director of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), which represents 5,000 architecture faculty teaching more than 30,000 students—stresses that architectural education needs to rest on strong foundation of shared values and ethics in order for graduates to make meaningful contributions to what he describes as a "civilized life," promoting the dignity, freedom, health, and well-being of the people who interact with architecture every day.
