Is Professionalization Killing Literary Studies?

Bruce Fleming argues in this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that the professionalization of college-level English is actually driving students away from literary studies, which seems to counter what many were arguing in class about the importance of specialization and career training in universities. Is it perhaps professionalization only in specific disciplines (e.g., the sciences or social sciences) that students want? Would students prefer to discuss those "big questions" (e.g., the meaning of life, what it means to be human, how to live a good life) in the humanities, as Kronman suggests, without receiving training in the specific skills used by those who become humanities professors? Is professionalization not really the ideal of a university education after all, or is it perhaps that we seek some combination of approaches that allows both wide-ranging inquiry into cultural legacies and specialized vocational training? How might courses be designed to cater to both objectives? Is that what liberal arts universities do already by requiring common curriculum before or alongside requirements for a chosen major?