EARLIER this year a Gallup poll found that confidence in America’s public schools was at an all-time low. Its data go back to 1973. Few politicians who speak about education these days forget to lament the country’s poor rankings in international league tables, or the urgent need to produce more college graduates. Poor schools, increased student debt, higher tuition fees and lower pay for the middle classes are causing, if this is possible, more angst than ever about education. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are doing their best to tap into this vein of concern.
Both candidates begin at roughly similar places in the debate–recognising the problem and proposing some of the same remedies, such as more charter schools, teacher evaluations and pay related to merit. Both also have to bear in mind that education is an area presidents cannot do much to change. But a second-term Mr Obama is likely to have education reform higher on his agenda than a first-term Mr Romney. Mr Obama’s priorities on entering office in 2009–the economy and health care–were just what Mr Romney’s will be if he arrives in 2013.