![THE MAN WHO DIED FOR THE LIBERAL ARTS](https://cdn.magzter.com/1377116771/1713178981/articles/-2xhGZOlL1713265573773/THE-MAN-WHO-DIED-FOR-THE-LIBERAL-ARTS.jpg)
A young ensign—“real eager to get off that ship and get into action,” in the recollection of an enlisted Navy man who encountered him—sat down and wrote a letter to his younger brother, who one day would be my father.
Philip Alvan Shribman, a recent graduate of Dartmouth and just a month away from his 22nd birthday, was not worldly but understood that he had been thrust into a world conflict that was more than a contest of arms. At stake were the life, customs, and values that he knew. He was a quiet young man, taciturn in the old New England way, but he had much to say in this letter, written from the precipice of battle to a brother on the precipice of adulthood. His scrawl consumed five pages of Navy stationery.
“It’s growing on me with increasing rapidity that you’re about set to go to college,” he wrote to his brother, Dick, then living with my grandparents in Salem, Massachusetts, “and tho I’m one hell of a guy to talk—and tho I hate preaching—let me just write this & we’ll call it quits.”
He acknowledged from the start that “this letter won’t do much good”—a letter that, in the eight decades since it was written, has been read by three generations of my family. In it, Phil Shribman set out the virtues and values of the liberal arts at a time when universities from coast to coast were transitioning into training grounds for America’s armed forces.
“What you’ll learn in college won’t be worth a God-damned,” Phil told Dick. “But you’ll learn a way of life perhaps—a way to get on with people—an appreciation perhaps for just one thing: music, art, a book—all of this is bound to be unconscious learning— it’s part of a liberal education in the broad sense of the term.”
This story is from the May 2024 edition of The Atlantic.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2024 edition of The Atlantic.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
![THE GLACIER RESCUE PROJECT](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/8tMX-T8vo1718714248505/THE-GLACIER-RESCUE-PROJECT.jpg)
THE GLACIER RESCUE PROJECT
Can the mighty Thwaites be stopped from tumbling into the sea?
![A Novel Without Characters](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/4yPEWYBVB1718716977007/A-NOVEL-WITHOUT-CHARACTERS.jpg)
A Novel Without Characters
Rachel Cusks lonely experiment
![The Industry That Ate America](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/2XLU552I51718716749037/THE-INDUSTRY-THAT-ATE-AMERICA.jpg)
The Industry That Ate America
The long and lurid history of lobbying
![Kafka's Not Supposed to Make Sense](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/5pD5nGdOu1718716456861/KAFKAS-NOT-SUPPOSED-TO-MAKE-SENSE.jpg)
Kafka's Not Supposed to Make Sense
“The incomprehensible,” he explained, “is incomprehensible.”
![Tornado Watch](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/O-l5i_K_J1718716111951/TORNADO-WATCH.jpg)
Tornado Watch
How Lee Isaac Chung reimagined Twister, one of the biggest climate-disaster thrillers of all time
![Too Cute to Fail](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/jXiIWXkLE1718715373348/TOO-CUTE-TO-FAIL.jpg)
Too Cute to Fail
Koalas are threatened by climate change, cars, and chlamydia. Can Australia find a way to protect its most beloved animal?
![THE FIRST THREE MONTHS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/_wh3lp8HM1718713159859/THE-FIRST-THREE-MONTHS.jpg)
THE FIRST THREE MONTHS
What I saw inside the government’s response to COVID-19
![THE VALLEY](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/BSZgiac3f1718712455227/THE-VALLEY.jpg)
THE VALLEY
Searching for the future in the most American city
![THE AIRPORT-LOUNGE ARMS RACE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1705472/4GLuV90RJ1716814207720/THE-AIRPORTLOUNGE-ARMS-RACE.jpg)
THE AIRPORT-LOUNGE ARMS RACE
Inside the ever more extravagant competition to lure affluent travelers
![Hypochondria Never Dies](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1705472/18KmE7vNN1716814038369/HYPOCHONDRIA-NEVER-DIES.jpg)
Hypochondria Never Dies
The diagnosis is officially gone, but health anxiety is everywhere.