I’ve never found the idea of Jedi Initiates either “aging out” of the creche to be very... in line with the Jedi’s teachings. The first time I heard of it I kind of just shrugged and ignored it since it didn’t really make sense to me. But know that I’ve read some more into fanfics that features it, I’m pretty glad that it got the axe. 

I. Unnecessary Competition (Aka did you forget they’re Space Monks?) 

A pretty big reason for my side eye for the concept of aging out is that it puts a ton of emphasis of competition between Initiates to secure a spot as a Padawan. Given all that we see about the Jedi, like their focus on communal teaching and living, their constant efforts to learn and educate oneself, and their commitment to helping others in whichever way they’re able, the idea that you’d need to ‘compete’ to be a Padawan sticks out like a sore thumb. 

I think it had something to do with the fact the in Episode I, the council said a Jedi could have only one Padawan at a time?  But that doesn’t imply a surplus of initiates or a lack of teachers, so why would they impose such an almost Darwinist mindset? It such a leap of logic to assume that about the Jedi. 

I mean, the Jedi don’t ever seem to compete with each other outside of informal duels, fun/joking bets between friends, or other such things. Most of their culture is center upon improving oneself rather than one-upping others to get attention. 

II. Different Lifecycles (Aka there are other species besides humans, remember?)

The other main thing that firmly confused me was the arbitrary age limit. Like, 11 to 13? That’s a very limiting range isn’t it? Why not longer? Or starting them when an initiate was older and better able to handle the trials of padawanship? (You know, the whole planets being held captive by corrupt organizations and aggressive negotiations and all those fun Padawan things?)  

And sure putting how already stupidly limiting that age range is, it further falls apart when you consider the fact that different species, ya know, exist. 

What about Yoda’s Species who age really slow and live for ages? What about the Wookies or any of the other species that live for centuries? Do they have a longer selection range, given that they’re ‘11′ or ‘13′ longer in respect to their natural lifespans? Or was Grogu meant to be shipped off to the Agricorps as soon as he could feed himself because he wasn’t chosen in the first 1/100th of his lifespan?

And what about shorter lived species? Do they only have a year or less to get chosen? Or maybe a species that matures really fast but lives about as long as a human? Do they get chosen when they’re mentally or chronologically ‘of proper age?’ 

It seems far too far fetched that the heavily multi-species Jedi would impose such a standard so inapplicable to a good portion of their membership. 

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