Schools and Studios

No art this time from me.
Ive been reading animation blogs recently, getting myself ready for the new semester, when I came across this post by Kevin Geiger titled Cube Dreams (Read his blog, first). In it he says that animation studios are hiring cookie-cutter animators who keep within the narrow realm of standard animation. Now what schools are doing is teaching students how to "get a job" in these studios by giving them the narrow mindset of "thats how it should go" and "this is what they want". More schools need a closer connection with the companies. He goes on by asking the question "Do we want to turn out graduates who slot neatly into the job opening of existing production companies, or do we want to turn out graduates who revolutionize the industry..."
Our school has the Pixar program where the classes are taught by instructors who work at Pixar and teach part time. I've never gotten better advice or more a more thorough and direct critique of my work before those classes. Ive also gained an enormous amount of knowledge through just one semester of the Pixar class. The industry is changing every day, and its so hard to keep up with it especially when your school has little to no idea of whats going on behind the scenes at say Dreamworks or Rythm & Hues. Now I know why we need more school and industry connections, we need to break ourselves off from the standards; learn from the past but be original and expand our skillsets and imagination.

Theres a company thats taking action to move the industry forward, I suggest you guys check it out IPAX