For true believers in liberal education, the new Atlantic

has an article on "The Man Who Died for the Liberal Arts." It's a beautiful tribute by one David Shribman to his uncle Phil Shribman, who was killed while serving on a PT boat off Guadalcanal in February 1943. His uncle was a recent Dartmouth graduate who wrote his younger brother Dick, the writer's father, who was still in high school, to impress on him the value of a liberal education vs. learning a trade. Without a hint of snobbery, the letter defends the civilizing role of liberal education in broadening our grasp of the world and preparing for a lifetime of learning. The writer's grandfather was a Russian Jewish immigrant who had settled in Salem, Mass., and made a success of himself in real estate and insurance -- but never made it to college. When the grandfather, Max Shribman, lost his son to war, he later endowed a scholarship to Dartmouth from young men (and women) from Salem. The writer says that he spent time over the course of fifty years trying to learn as much as possible about his uncle, from college classmates and people who served with him in the Navy and were on his boat when it was set ablaze by a Japanese destroyer after a torpedo attack. (Ten crew members survived nine hours in the ocean; one, with two broken legs, was lost, perhaps to sharks; and Phil was killed instantly by gunfire.)

The story pays moving tribute alike to liberal education and to the patriotism and love of democracy that it nurtured. Link provided, though it's probably paywalled. You could do worse than subscribing to the Atlantic. The long article in the same issue on the bitter split between Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is a fascinating look into the looming schism in Eastern Orthodoxy caused by super-heated nationalism and clerical venality.

Click here for link at https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/russia-