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...same time, Elliott was listening carefully to campus debate and engaging friends like Wohl and Mensah in marathon dining hall symposia on contemporary events. What I saw was a very deep and honest, not Chie, belief that there is deep injustice in the world and a great need for social change on many levels, that government has a necessary role to play, he says. "My previous assumptions did not admit that need." His sympathies still lie with Reagan rather than Tip O'Neill, with individualism rather than collectivism. "On most issues that are raised by undergraduate political leaders. I have...

Author: By Paul M. Barrett, | Title: Small Town Boy in the Big City | 6/9/1983 | See Source »

...Elliott drew from his academic work not just a sense of accomplishment or a fancy resume credit, but a new means of understanding himself and his most closely held beliefs. To his surprise, he discovered fewer real political divisions in American history than he had assumed existed. His interpretations rely heavily on theories first popularized in the mid-1950s by Louis Hartz and other members of the so-called "consensus school" of American history: "I really think political philosophy went out with Jackson, or sometime in that era. When industrialism imposed upon us a new set of ground rules...

Author: By Paul M. Barrett, | Title: Small Town Boy in the Big City | 6/9/1983 | See Source »

...shot in the dark" hit its mark, and Elliott trekked east, "convinced I would get all C's, if not all D's, and that there would be a good chance that I would fail out altogether." He quickly overcame his fears with a plain old all-American effort: "I studied my rear end off." He amassed mammoth outlines of lectures and readings, particularly in American history, which became a new obsession. "I loved it once I got used to it. It was just exceedingly exciting. I ended up doing quite well for a guy from Bremen...

Author: By Paul M. Barrett, | Title: Small Town Boy in the Big City | 6/9/1983 | See Source »

...stereotype of small town reactionary fanaticism is often as much of a myth as that of the Red Menace on the Charles, insists Elliott. He points out that his family, for example, as well as other members of the Anabaptist Protestant sect to which they belong, have always stressed cooperation and generosity in race relations. "In some ways I also came here a lot less exist than many people," he adds, explaining that in Bremen, women such as his own mother work full-time "out of necessity, and there's no great cause attached to it." In general he lauds...

Author: By Paul M. Barrett, | Title: Small Town Boy in the Big City | 6/9/1983 | See Source »

That conclusion has helped push Elliott toward teaching and away from law school. "Behind the closed door of the classroom, a great teacher can make up for a lot of ignorance." His columns on Bremen's teacher's union, as well as his love for American history, and a desire to accomplish something concrete for his community--"they all just finally fused together, and I realized what I wanted to do, what seemed right despite other options." His mother, he expects, will continue to wonder why he didn't choose a more lucrative profession. "And I guess...

Author: By Paul M. Barrett, | Title: Small Town Boy in the Big City | 6/9/1983 | See Source »

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