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The author argues that the language of education is being increasingly dominated by concepts from the market and industry and begins this chapter by briefly discussing the social significance of this new vocabulary. He suggests that the new language heralds the introduction of more industrialised forms of teaching and learning. This is seen as a justification for the reduction of public investment in education and training as it is claimed that the industrialisation of education will produce efficiency gains and increase individual responsibility for becoming employable. The author, however, argues that the common-sense technocratic explanation of the need for Western societies to become learning societies will lead to increasing social and economic polarisation. This argument is based on data that show that the low-skill and high-skill transition paths are drifting apart. The author argues that basic-skills education, retraining, and work-creation programs will lead to higher returns for society than expanding further education colleges and postsecondary institutions.