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History
Every place has a history, some are just more historic than others. A nightcourse in history can help you understand more about how the world ended up the way it is today...
Those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it, said wise man George Santayana. This doesn't necessarily mean that unless you take a nightcourse in history you will experience famine, revolution or social strife (or have a tendency to take part in genocides on an unprecedented scale), but it does mean that a certain level of historical awareness helps individuals and society as a whole to better understand the world around them.
Irish people are particularly interested in history, and this interest is reflected in the number and breadth of history further and adult education options available. You can take short or long, full or part-time courses in a huge range of subjects. Some courses focus on a particular time or place, while others take a wider view. Several have a strict academic focus, while others are more conversational and informal.
Courses are available everywhere from your local VEC or community college to university level. Most of these courses - even the shorter ones without exams or formal qualifications - are taught by real experts who have a tremendous fascination in and broad knowledge of their subject. These teachers and lecturers can often have spent entire lifetimes concentrating on a certain era and events, and can be only too willing to communicate their vast knowledge to students. This enthusiasm can often be infectious and students who take a short taster course can often find themselves hooked and want to learn more.
Local history classes are among the most popular options. Each county in Ireland has been through quite a lot over the years and local experts will recount the events, personalities and legends that are linked with your local area. It might be that Cúchulainn used to live around the corner from your aunty, or that a battle during the 1798 rebellion took place right in your back garden. You will never know unless you go. Some local history classes include walking tours on the timetable, so students can walk through the landscape and experience first hand the sites and scenes which have gone into making their locality as it is.
Irish history is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake, wrote wise man James Joyce. However not all of Irish history has been that bad. A nightcourse in Irish history can concentrate on certain times and events - e.g. the revolutionary period of the early twentieth century, plantation times, the early Christian era, the 'Troubles' etc. etc. Irish history is probably among the more controversial nightcourse subjects you can choose, with different historians (and lay-people) having quite different takes on the same events. The better courses will introduces students to competing versions of what went on, and allow them to make up their own minds.
You don't have to concentrate on history close to home however. Other countries have arguably even more colourful and eventful histories than Ireland, and there is a whole host of nightcourses on offer which concentrate on European and world history. Pick a moment in time, any moment in time, and chances are there is a nightcourse somewhere in Ireland which will feature it. 'History of the Palestinian Israeli Conflict' is one example - although quite how the lecturer plans to fit this into 10 weeks is beyond us. 'Bright Lights, Big Cities: Urban Life & Culture in the Ancient World' is another course which caught our eye. You can also study historiography - which is analyzing history and looking at how opinions on the past change over time, why certain events and personalities are seen as critical, and the importance of narrative and cultural memory in the study of history.
It is also possible to take an adult education course which prepares mature students to take their Junior or Leaving Certificate history exams, which they might have missed out on first time around. Students looking to improve their Leaving Cert results to have another run at the CAO system can also take repeat and revision courses in Leaving Cert history at further education colleges around Ireland.
History as a subject lends itself to distance learning as it is (mostly) an academic type subject, without practical or vocational elements. You can enroll in a distance learning course and study the materials and readings at your own pace in the comfortable surroundings of your own home. Distance learning options in history include everything from short informal courses to the Leaving Cert to full degree programmes.
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