Adult Continuing Education is a Useful Tool

When I first learned about adult continuing education at a local junior college, I was interested in what they had to offer. After all, they were cheaper than regular classes, I would be around people my own age, and I could hone my craft a little more than I was able to do at work. I soon discovered that continuing education for adults is a useful tool.

My particular area of interest was counseling, and the professor of the class was actually a psychologist with years of experience. I had never taken an adult continuing education course, so I did not really know what to expect. I soon found myself learning insights into counseling and addressing patient needs that I had never even thought about before.

In our class, we would regularly hear lectures from people in the field about new techniques and the latest trends, but we were also provided with the opportunity to gather into large groups and brainstorm ideas, discussing with one other different things we had learned in the field. What was so great about the adult continuing education class was that it was several like-minded people discussing a topic that really interested them.

My interest in adult continuing education classes soon spilled over into an area I really did not know much about, which is automotive repair. I was a bit more nervous about this class, because I really had no idea what I was doing and knew that there was the great potential for embarrassment. To my great relief, the professor informed us that the class would be beneficial to people that were just starting out as well as to people that already knew a lot about cars.

Through that particular adult continuing education class, I learned a lot of the basics about cars, such as how to do a tune-up, oil change, brake pads replacement and so forth. I was not the quickest learner in this area, but at least now my wife thinks I'm a real handy man and I can save a lot of money by not having to go to a repair shop every time my car needs something done.

I took another course on literature, which further explored the themes and literary devices from some of my favorite books in ways I had never done in high school or college. It was great to listen to the perspectives of different people and to see how so many of us looked at the meanings in the same books in different ways.

Adult continuing education classes can be a very useful tool, regardless of what you are trying to learn. I would guess that I have taken about a dozen such courses by now, and I plan to take many, many more.