Adult educators have given a considerable amount of time and energy over the past five years to preparing for the White Paper, Charting our Education Future. The State has this ability to set the agenda for our discussions and deliberations but as a major statement of policy and a framework for the future development of adult education the paper deserves a considered response. What I would like to do is explore one or two ideas that I think are central to this task. These thoughts are meant neither as the only ones worth considering nor as a definitive and final position but rather as thoughts in search of dialogue. There will be three parts to this task: 1. A critique of the white paper, the negative 2. A closer look at what is implied by this critique, the positive 3. Adult education: A future role in a domocracy of free citizens.