When Mark Twain famously said, “I never let school interfere with my education,” it is most likely he meant the traditional and not the continuing education schools. Unlike private or public colleges and universities, there is little or no admissions process for continuing education schools.
There is no application to fill out, no waiting to find out whether or not you have been accepted, and for most of the courses there is no prior experience required to attend a continuing education school. There is no entrance exam, or SAT exam. In fact it is likely that if you take a continuing education class there will be no exams at all, or grades for that matter.
There are some continuing education schools that offer some classes for high school or college credit, but for the most part the classes are noncredit. Schools for continuing education offer courses in a variety of subjects and often add new classes or modify existing ones based on the needs, interests and current trends of the community. The types of classes can be academic, such as writing courses, or can have real life applications such as learning how to cook gluten free meals.
Continuing education schools can have courses in just about anything. Foreign languages, office skills, photography, arts and crafts, zumba and floral design are just the tip of the iceberg. If you have a child who would like to learn karate, there is probably a continuing education school offering classes. If you want to try step aerobics, but are brand new to it, it is likely that there is a class just for beginners at a continuing education school near you.
Continuing education is also sometimes called community education. It makes sense. There are classes available for students of all ages, educational backgrounds and interests. If there was a good continuing education school in his neighborhood, even Mark Twain would have been tempted to take a class or two.