As documented by multiple NEA studies ("Reading at Risk," 2004; "To Read or Not to Read," 2007), reading has become devalued in American life, on sale in the clearance bin along with notions of greatness, classic works and ideas, and Western civilization itself. Trying to teach fine literature, writes the author, has become the struggle of how to save the students who want to study only pop culture from the teachers who want to teach only pop culture and the administrators who want only packed classes. Prompted by encounters with students fed up with militant multiculturalism and squash-you-all-flat postmodernism, and encouraged by a student-formed Great Books Club, the author sought out similarly-minded colleagues at the Modern Language Association convention to discuss Great Books as a separate, "value added" certificate program using already approved courses. Current steps include making the program and certificate achievable online.