The afternoon begins with a panel debate on the driving influences of design with respect to practice vs academia --- Who is leading the design profession?

The postitions are as follows:
Representing Practice
(Matthew Woodruff, Adrian Van Wijk, Tony Gellion)
... takes the position that practice drives the changes in methodologies and processes and that educational institutions merely respond to the demand from the profession.

Representing Education
(Tim Antoniuk, Roger Griffiths, Ron Kemnitzer)
... contends that the institutions spark the debate and provide the climate where these innovative ideas get tested and that it is the graduates going out into practice that help create the necessary changes in the practice.

Some of the various arguments from the panelists:
"Industry is reactive." - Roger
"Academics can think more broadly and innovatively. Social and ecological concerns can take precedent." - Tim
"There is no doubt that the driving force behind change is profit." - Roger
"Designers need to think within the constraints of industry." - Matt
"Can a recent design graduate come in and do the work that needs to get done?" - Tony
"Change needs to be affected from within (the practice)." - Tony
"Education prepares students for their career, and for their future." - Ron
"When do designers ever stop being students?" - Ron

I find it interesting that we are sitting here debating about who is leading the profession, and positioning one in opposition to the other. It is obvious to me that both education and practice bring valuable skills and thinking to the table - each brings valuable, necessary, and differing insights/perspectives. To me, it seems like a more productive discussion would be "what are the strengths of each and how can we leverage this in order to advance the profession?" A more productive discussion to have, I believe -- this does come up in the many questions from the field... and Ron does end with a good quote regarding the overlap of the two "we need to find common ground."

Comments anyone ... on how we can all get along?