diff --git a/conf/defaults.config b/conf/defaults.config
index b6f6d1ad82..8a07924a2a 100644
--- a/conf/defaults.config
+++ b/conf/defaults.config
@@ -130,7 +130,6 @@ $courseURLs{feedbackFormURL} = "";
 ################################################################################
 
 $defaultTheme = "math4";
-$defaultThemeTemplate = "system";
 
 # The institution logo should be an image file in the theme's images folder
 $institutionLogo = 'maa_logo.svg';
diff --git a/conf/localOverrides.conf.dist b/conf/localOverrides.conf.dist
index 7a5ffae8df..2ac43a6dbd 100644
--- a/conf/localOverrides.conf.dist
+++ b/conf/localOverrides.conf.dist
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ $mail{feedbackRecipients}    = [
 ################################################################################
 
 #$defaultTheme = "math4";
-#$defaultThemeTemplate = "system";
 
 # The institution logo should be an image file in the theme's images folder
 #$institutionLogo = 'my_school_logo.png';
diff --git a/htdocs/themes/layouts b/htdocs/themes/layouts
deleted file mode 120000
index 945c9b46d6..0000000000
--- a/htdocs/themes/layouts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/htdocs/themes/math4-green/system.html.ep b/htdocs/themes/math4-green/system.html.ep
deleted file mode 120000
index f7a74c7169..0000000000
--- a/htdocs/themes/math4-green/system.html.ep
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../math4/system.html.ep
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/htdocs/themes/math4-red/system.html.ep b/htdocs/themes/math4-red/system.html.ep
deleted file mode 120000
index f7a74c7169..0000000000
--- a/htdocs/themes/math4-red/system.html.ep
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../math4/system.html.ep
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/htdocs/themes/math4-yellow/system.html.ep b/htdocs/themes/math4-yellow/system.html.ep
deleted file mode 120000
index f7a74c7169..0000000000
--- a/htdocs/themes/math4-yellow/system.html.ep
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../math4/system.html.ep
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/Mojolicious/WeBWorK.pm b/lib/Mojolicious/WeBWorK.pm
index 7db3a0cade..cf249025cc 100644
--- a/lib/Mojolicious/WeBWorK.pm
+++ b/lib/Mojolicious/WeBWorK.pm
@@ -81,9 +81,6 @@ sub startup ($app) {
 	# url_for_asset controller method.
 	unshift(@{ $app->static->paths }, $webwork_htdocs_dir);
 
-	# Add the themes directory to the template search paths.
-	push(@{ $app->renderer->paths }, $ce->{webworkDirs}{themes});
-
 	# Setup the Minion job queue. Make sure that any task added here is represented in the TASK_NAMES hash in
 	# WeBWorK::ContentGenerator::Instructor::JobManager.
 	$app->plugin(Minion => { $ce->{job_queue}{backend} => $ce->{job_queue}{database_dsn} });
diff --git a/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator.pm b/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator.pm
index 6d5b3be00e..ee66307abc 100644
--- a/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator.pm
+++ b/lib/WeBWorK/ContentGenerator.pm
@@ -437,43 +437,13 @@ Defined in this package.
 
 Print the content of the generated page.
 
-This renders a Mojo::Template.
-
-The defaultThemeTemplate in the course environment is used for the page layout.
-If that is not defined, the default "system" template, is used. The location of
-the template is looked up in the course environment.
+This renders the Mojo::Template corresponding to the called ContentGenerator sub-package.
 
 =cut
 
 sub content ($c) {
 	my $ce = $c->ce;
-
-	my $theme = $c->param('theme') || $ce->{defaultTheme};
-	$theme = $ce->{defaultTheme} if $theme =~ m!(?:^|/)\.\.(?:/|$)!;
-
-	my $layout = $ce->{defaultThemeTemplate} // 'system';
-
-	my $layoutName = "$theme/$layout";
-
-	# Attempt to prevent disaster when the theme layout file is missing.
-	unless (-r "$ce->{webworkDirs}{themes}/$theme/$layout.html.ep") {
-		if (-r "$ce->{webworkDirs}{themes}/math4/$layout.html.ep") {
-			$layoutName = "math4/$layout";
-			$theme      = HTML::Entities::encode_entities($theme);
-			warn "Theme $theme is not one of the available themes. "
-				. 'Please check the theme configuration '
-				. 'in the files localOverrides.conf, course.conf and '
-				. "simple.conf and on the course configuration page.\n";
-		} else {
-			$theme = HTML::Entities::encode_entities($theme);
-			die "Neither the theme $theme nor the defaultTheme math4 are available.  "
-				. 'Please notify your site administrator that the structure of the '
-				. 'themes directory needs attention.';
-
-		}
-	}
-
-	return $c->render(template => ((ref($c) =~ s/^WeBWorK:://r) =~ s/::/\//gr), layout => $layoutName);
+	return $c->render(template => ((ref($c) =~ s/^WeBWorK:://r) =~ s/::/\//gr), layout => 'system');
 }
 
 =back
diff --git a/htdocs/themes/math4/system.html.ep b/templates/layouts/system.html.ep
similarity index 100%
rename from htdocs/themes/math4/system.html.ep
rename to templates/layouts/system.html.ep