Beans for Brains

Ladies and gentlemen, having spent nearly five years in higher academia, I can honestly say that this is the face of higher education.

DANVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- For years, sociology professor Beau Weston has held informal office hours off campus in a local coffee shop, sipping his mocha latte while advising students.

As he did, he formed relationships with other coffee shop regulars who might otherwise have remained strangers. That caused a sort of academic epiphany, and now he's one of a handful of teachers across the nation who have developed courses that study coffee and its effect on society.

Don't drop your morning cup of joe. Weston's class, offered during a recent intensive three-week term at Centre College, was hardly "Starbucks 101," although the 15 students who enrolled in "The Cafe and Public Life" could be forgiven if that was their original impression.

Nevermind that half of the students who take class like this probably can't find Colombia (for those of you who are dumb as a sack of hammers, that's where a lot of coffee comes from) on a map. Coffee's effect on society? There are people who get a degree by taking nothing but classes like this.

UPDATE: I wonder if Professor Weston assigns articles like this one in his class.