Steps must be taken to upset the academic equilibrium that sustains the dearth of humanities in community college curricula. Accommodation to institutional and societal factors have forced an emphasis on practical rather than liberal arts courses, and provided for an incomplete curriculum that does not help the student meet humanistic educational goals. A distinction should be made between the repetitive and futile, though necessary, nature of a "job" and the creative, fulfilling nature of "work." Additionally, curriculum planning should be directed toward preparing students for living as well as livelihoods. Implementation of these directions can be achieved by using the language of the humanities, i.e., the expression of "purposiveness and drama," as opposed to the factual objectivity of scientific language, in improving existing courses and creating new ones. Within the classroom, emphasis on the distinction between "job" and "work" provides a common goal for both students and teachers, and thus prevents student disinterest and faculty discouragement. To help community college teachers meet the challenges that face them, they should be rewarded for outside, "entrepreneurial" work such as writing or painting; they should be given opportunities for "creative disengagement" from their college assignments; and they should be evaluated in terms broader than the number of hours spent in the classroom. (JP)