There are things in the skills White Paper that those who care passionately about lifelong learning and the empowerment of adult learners will welcome. But as well as admiring the angels in the architecture, the author contends, they need to look for the devils in the detail. The White Paper cannot be considered apart from the spending review…

If the year 1999 was dominated by the intense efforts of the federal government to establish guidelines for compliance with the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, the year 2000 was dominated by the field's efforts to implement plans to meet those guidelines. In addition to engaging in this time- and labor-intensive work, the field witnessed…