The term crash course refers to intensive or brief learning, which may be taken in emergency situations. Often however, the term applies simply to a brief introduction to material that will allow one to understand more in depth material.

If one looks on the Internet, one will see “crash course” applied to virtually anything one can learn. Usually a crash course of this type is free. For example one can find a crash course on HTML, on French history, Constitutional law, or guitar chords.

Such brief introductions are usually meant to give a cursory understanding of a topic. Particularly if someone wishes to do something right away, like try to program a website, a crash course in HTML, or Java, may give just enough information to help one begin.

In contrast, the true crash course is not usually sought. It is often learning that occurs in an emergency situation, forcing a “learn by doing” scenario. For example, if a woman cannot make it to the hospital to have a baby, her husband might be in an emergency situation where he must deliver the baby himself. With help from a 911 operator, the husband may suddenly find himself taking a crash course in obstetrics.

In the above situation, the husband undergoes a crash course that is definitely not of his seeking. He must learn how to deliver a baby, right now! Thus his acquired learning is done via crash course style.

Learning from one’s life experiences, especially harrowing ones are crash courses. Several years ago, a five year old decided to take his sister for a ride in the family car, as the keys were left in the ignition.

Surprisingly he and his sister were uninjured, but other motorists noticed a car that appeared to be operating without a driver, since the boy’s head was too far below the windshield to be seen. The police were able to safely pull the car over after getting several reports of the driverless car.

When the child was asked what he learned from the experience, he responded “how to drive.” Clearly the boy took a crash course in driving, which luckily didn’t end in a crash.

Moreover, driving schools love using crash course to describe driving lessons. Often they may be called “Crash Course” driving schools because the goal is to teach a driver to learn quickly through intensive lessons. Related to the term, the goal is also to teach the driver not to “crash.” Some schools even offer training in what to do if one might have an accident, or a spin out.

Generally, though, one can take a crash course in just about any field. Voluntarily participating in intense studies does not have the negative implications of a crash course taken in emergency situations. Though both provide learning experiences, the latter is clearly more stressful.