Remember Spiro T. Agnew? Many people today don't. He was the 39th Vice President of the United States and the only one in history to be forced to resign because of criminal charges, for which he was found guilty. He was the Republican Governor of Maryland and Richard Nixon's sidekick. He went down and out in 1973 before his boss Nixon did a year later because of the Watergate scandal. Spiro Agnew should be remembered for more reasons than the scandal during the time he was Vice President. He needs to be remembered as a pioneer in the "dumbing down" of America, something that continues with about the same diatribes as Agnew initiated years ago, with words used like elitism and pointy-headed liberal. And just as we remember him, we ought to forget him and his alliterations such as "nattering nabobs of negativism" (written by Safire), "pusillanimous pussyfooters", "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history" and opponents as "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."

Agnew loved to berate those Easterners, although Maryland is hardly the center of the country itself. However, Agnew was one of the early politicians in the Republican party who joined with the Nixon venture of winning through engendering himself to the blue collar, non college-educated or the "C" graduate who wanted some way of getting back at the people who looked like they could get ahead because they knew better. Or the ones who worried that those people were going to exceed and dominate the direction.

So what happened with Agnew's platitudes and political barbs? Were they rejected? No, indeed. Hillary Clinton stood up proudly and declared, so no one would miss it, that she could bake cookies with the best of them. Never mind that she was virtually a straight "A" student and graduate with a law degree and lots of pointy-headed credits. She was forced to dumb herself down with cookies and Tammy Wynette stories, vowing she wasn't just standing by her man, but using the intonation and drawl to draw the vote of those who parade "I feel your pain" from positions of gain without it.

Now we have Agnew followers, those who as youth heard the prattle and the parents beginning to apologize for being smart. Now we have dropouts who don't care and young people who negotiate for good grades, just enough to make sure they can get into graduate school but not enough to be considered an elitist, pointy-headed intellectual. Why would anyone want to be considered too smart like that?

So now the whole country decries the high dropout rate and the failure of American education. But where did it come from. Many folks just like to blame the teachers. Certainly teachers can share some of that blame. Teachers blame the lack of interest and response to parent-teacher meetings and conferences. Administrators blame the taxpayers. Well, I say everyone has a slice of the blame, including students themselves. However, when the bar is set low and excellence is made to be a joke, what should young people consequently think and do?

Whatever the outcome of the 2008 election, many of us should wonder why nearly half the country can be swayed by slogans and putdowns about education, when education is the most valuable part of our culture and the future of our children. Democracy was founded upon the hope that education would be part of its sound foundation.

Most people want elite pilots so planes don't fall from the sky because the pilot didn't understand the controls and what to do in an emergency. Folks likely want elite teachers so children learn from the best. Elite doctors can solve medical problems with creativity. Finally elitism is a goal for those who see themselves as grateful and want to give back the best of themselves and to become elite in professions to be the best in providing service to others.

It is likely that if America is to move ahead it needs excellence in its carpenters, plumbers, doctors, scientists and others so the nation moves in a positive direction and no longer follows behind many of the other developed nations. By becoming elite and putting education first America can capture its destiny of leadership so that it can become the trendsetter and way-shower that it has been for the world since the country began.