Sometime around 1900 Elizabeth Gilman made a copy of a letter Emily Dickinson wrote to her Norcross cousins in 1882. A study of this copy not only brings to light new Dickinson text and, with it, new information about her biography, but, perhaps just as importantly, offers a chance to examine how her texts circulated semi-privately in manuscript just as they were coming in to print. This examination also leads to a reconsideration of Dickinson editing, both past and present.
The title of this book could suggest either a wide-ranging but superficial overview, or as is often the case, an analysis of skill and training based on outcomes. This book, happily, is neither of these. Theorists and policy-makers alike have long endorsed education and training as the key means to achieve both economic development and personal betterment. Despite the challenges levied at human capital theory over the past 30 years, there has been a resurgence of arguments that education and training, especially the acquisition of skill, are vehicles through which countries can participate in the global economy, develop local economies and ensure full employment.Although it has been challenged, the belief that skills acquisition leads to participation in the global market and economic development locally remains pervasive. This book investigates that notion through discussions of what I believe to be key elements of the skills/training debate that are often ignored. It addresses fundamental questions: what do we mean by skills? Why has skill development been limited? If skills are so important to economies, why do we not have the structures and systems to support their development? How can we understand the underlying political, economic and social issues that drive skill definition and application?The 14 chapters in this book tackle the 'skills' issue from several important angles: meaning, context and application. Each of the chapters addresses these and the questions raised above to varying degrees. Grugulis, Warhurst and Keep set the stage by exploring the changing meaning of skill. Bolton incorporates the latest 'addition' to the debate -soft skills. Several of the authors discuss the 'skills debate' in the context of both state and industry structures: Hampson (Australia), Lafer (USA), Clarke and Hermann (the construction industry in the UK and Germany) and Rainbird, Munro and Holly (the public sector in the UK). Westwood discusses skill shortages in juxtaposition to skill policies in the UK. Lloyd and Payne consider the issue within the context of political economy. Thus, Westwood, Lloyd and Payne do what too few theorists and practitioners do -they place the skills debate solidly in a policy context, not in isolation as is frequently the case. Indeed, this is one of the most significant contributions this book makes. It takes an oftenmarginalized issue, skills and training, and places it squarely at the policy table. The book then endeavours to define and discuss the issue of 'skill' within its contemporary context and in respect to ideological, political and social influences. In doing so, I believe it makes a substantive contribution to the field.For all the rhetoric that emphasizes the importance of training in a modern, competitive and global market place, training, in practice, is continually marginalizedimportant merely as a means of ameliorating unemployment. This is not to say that ameliorating unemployment is not a valid role for training. It is to say, however,
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