Staff Blog
Jedi university course announced, nerds cream pants, move to Ireland
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| Food editor Drew Lazor cuts off the hand of an anonymous news editor with light saber. |
| Molly Eichel |
Enter in the bullshit college course pantheon: Jedi 101. The Times of London reports that Queen's University Belfast is offering "How to train in the Jedi way."
According to the Times:
Jedi Knights must master flow and mindfulness, which [professor] Dr [Allen] Baird says are researched techniques to enable students to be fully immersed in a task, and control their thoughts and behaviour. The course will also explore the nature of liberty in the face of a facist empire and the place of technology.
He goes on to say the class is more of a publicity stunt to get people involved in learning. These being the hallowed halls traversed by such famous alumni like poet Seamus Heaney and current President of the irish Republic Mary McAleese. Baird fully expects people to show up in full Jedi garb. Which is weird.
Then the Times throws out this disturbing fact:
In the 2001 census 0.7 per cent of the population of England and Wales entered Jedi as their religion, more than described themselves as Buddhists, Sikhs or Jews.
Sigh.
My favorite comment on the story is this one.
Doughnut-making degree? I could've majored in doughnuts?! Still, a B.A. in Jedi will still probably get farther than a degree in English.
Let’s see you take a jump shot now, Taussig.