I do think there's much to be said about the web design community waiting for academia to come to us. It's just like a timid student sitting in the back of the class and not taking part in discussion, waiting for the instructor to make an effort to bring them in. Professionally, I find we have an amazing sense of community. We don't hesitate to reach out to each other, but somehow we don't extend that same courtesy to educators. Even those who are teaching students how to work on the web circa 1996 are at lest _trying_.

It would be great if all educators were also working professionals (as you seem to be), but that's not the reality we find ourselves in. I'd much rather find a way to act *now* rather than wait for reality to change in such a way to make it easier to act (such as suddenly web design curricula becoming as common as graphic design and comp sci programs).