From the earliest literary forms, myths, parables, and oral histories, literature has held human values up to the light and given life to the problems of being human. Little else in students' lives provides room for the consideration of values and provides them with a foundation to understand and confront the unavoidable failures and even successes of life. In spite of literature's importance in illuminating values, literature enrollments have declined in both two- and four-year colleges; English departments are focusing increasingly on writing; and the English major itself is changing to require more writing and less literature. Some trends, however, offer a ray of light for literature courses, such as, the groundswell for increasing liberal education for all students and the interest of older students in literature and other enrichment courses. Given the curricular prominence of career education and the tendency of vocational students and their advisors to avoid literature classes, liberal arts faculty should explore ways of tightening the ties between career and liberal education. Team-taught courses, emphasizing the applicability of literature to particular careers, operate as an important recruitment tool. Community business leaders, who have an understanding of the value of liberal arts for business and industry, should be invited to share their perceptions with the makers of career program curricula. Separating liberal arts and career preparation reflects a dangerous and destructive dualism, which must be overcome. (LAL)