From a learner's standpoint, Scotland's education system often looks less like a neat set of pathways than a tangled jungle. Since devolution, Scottish policymakers and the education community have set out to create a coherent and transparent set of opportunities for adult learners, of a quality to match Scotland's oft-praised unified system of secondary education. Local councils are asked to consult with other stakeholders--including communities--in bringing forward plans for community learning. There is a clear Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), covering all levels and stages in the system. And the Scottish Executive, following protracted dialogue with the sectors, has published its draft legislation to merge the two separate funding councils responsible for further and higher education. In this article, the author argues that compared to the real challenges facing the Scottish Executive--in securing real articulation between further and higher education and creating multiple opportunities for part-time adult learners--the furore over the merging of the further and higher education funding councils is a passing puff of wind.