Within the system of higher education, the humanistic disciplines are an essential subsystem; a subsystem, however, on which the current emphasis on laborforce relevance is having particularly detrimental effects. The current state of the humanistic disciplines may be characterized as that of a state of recession. Some of the external factors contributing to the recession are the declining birthrate, inflation, and problems with financial support; within the field, problems of overspecialization and subsequent lack of marketable skills, and conflicts among educators about educational goals add to the condition. A first step in working out of the recession is for educators to establish for themselves goals and priorities centering around "anthrocentric" undergraduate education. This focus would foster moral, aesthetic, and cognitive development while contributing to the quality of the laborforce; this is opposed to the "contentcentric" approach, which argues that humanistic education is an end in itself. A second step in revitalizing undergraduate humanistic education, is a concentration on instructional/curricular innovations which would focus on value clarification and contemporary ethical problem-solving with a view toward the future. Anthrocentric education thus requires that specialist and research competencies not be the primary criteria for the selection of professors for these undergraduate courses. A bibliography is included. (MB)