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UK University Helps Students Learn Ways of the Jedi

Posted Sep 11, 08 7:57 PM CDT in Arts & Living 

(Newser) – The force will now be with university students: Queen’s University in Belfast is offering a new course on Jedi knights that it hopes will impart universal lessons to students, be they fans of Star Wars or not, the Telegraph reports. The one-day class, entitled “Feel the Force: How to Train in the Jedi Way,” promises to teach “real-life psychological techniques behind Jedi mind tricks.”

For $40, students can explore the films’ wider issues “like balance, destiny, dualism, fatherhood and fascism.” The course’s instructor said the class isn’t just to indulge sci-fi geeks: It’s also “about the sociological and political issues that are addressed in the films. I am trying to find a platform through popular culture to bring people back to learning.”

Source Daily Telegraph (UK)

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"Feel the Force: How to Train in the Jedi Way" teaches the "real-life psychological techniques behind Jedi mind tricks," the Telegraph reports.   (AP Photo)
Attendees look over a display of artistically decorated Star Wars Darth Vader helmets at the Lucas Films booth at Comic-Con International convention.   (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
George Lucas' Star Wars franchise is being mined for a new course involving Jedi knights. "The parallel is with the Scout Movement's use of Rudyard Kipling's 'Jungle Book,'" its professor says.   (AP Photo)
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I hope to get more people interested in life-long learning. It is not just about the Star Wars films. It is also about the sociological and political issues that are addressed in the films. - Allen Baird
Instructor, Queen's University, Belfast

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