What is it about degrees in academia? Especially in the arts... if you have 20+ years in a creative industry and you are my instructor in college I'd be stoked! I don't want a teacher that has three degrees and never had a 'real' job. For fine art, it seems the shows they are in and the work they produce is the avenue of education they can provide, technique and direction to "make it big" but that's few and far between. In an applied field we need people who 'have been there done that'. But now they are telling people that have over 20 years industry experience and 20 years of teaching experience to go get a MFA or they're fired. Meanwhile, all the people with the MFA's never worked out side of school and provide no real view to the 'outside'. All the people who should be teaching these skills and insights are still grinding away at their stressful demanding commercial jobs, often to weak to even look up, not to mention have a minute to spare. The Irony. Granted, I have been blessed with the best of both worlds, my greatest instructors have had both industry and teaching experience, with or without an MFA. My instructors knew what it took to get into a creative commercial industry and how to prepare you for it, and boy did they. Not with any snooty, i studied at wherever attitude either, very matter of fact, this is how it is, this is what you need, now go do it.
