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Except for being a cell phone texting pro (I can even add punctuation!), I’m not much of a 21st century gal. Let’s just say I only recently figured out how to email photos downloaded from my digital camera. But on Tuesday night I felt very cutting edge when I sat down at my home office computer and “participated” in a pre-election education debate. The live debate was hosted by Edweek, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization based in Bethesda, MD whose primary mission is to raise awareness about important issues in American education. The group covers local, state, and national education news and issues from preschool through the 12th grade. (For more information, visit: www.edweek.org.)So, from the comfort of my home, I watched and listened as Lisa Graham Keegan, education adviser to John McCain and Linda Darling-Hammond, Obama’s education adviser, went at it. Education can be a boring topic but I have to say these women were anything but. Unlike the presidential debates (OMG did we really need three?), the stand ins were lively and candid. Both candidates agree that going forward our system of education should be focused on what’s being called 21st-century skills. That’s the thinking that in a highly-globalized, technology-driven age the ability to innovate, problem-solve and successfully work with people from other cultures should be as important as algebra. But there are significant differences that in my view stem from the ideology that each of their political parties represent. Here’s what I learned:Obama wants to quadruple funding in preschool intervention and early head start. Both programs focus on at-risk populations. According to his campaign’s website, this will help insure that more students graduate from high school. Having a higher graduation rate means less crime and incarceration down the line. McCain feels that more money does not necessarily net positive results. As he said in last week’s debate, “You will find that some of the worst school systems have the highest per pupil expenditure.”During the Edweek debate I discovered that Obama is a product of private school (courtesy of scholarship money) and that he also sends his children to private school. McCain’s representative reported that education spending has increased by 47 percent in the last 6 years. It was also brought out that the U.S. spends more money in administrative costs than on teacher salaries. That just seems contrary to me! Both parties sparred over the research that high-quality preschools have strong and lasting benefits to at-risk populations. There in lies another problem with debating complicated topics...it’s possible to find research that supports just about every argument, “fact” and figure. (How you define “credible” well, that’s up to you.)My other problem is the when arguing about education, “experts” like to throw around depressing statistic such as our “low” high school graduation rate—only 70 percent—when compared to other countries. Another surprising figure is that the U.S. ranks only 19th in science and 28th (out of 40 countries) in math. Perhaps these numbers don’t look so grim when you consider the other countries in the group—Japan, Finland, Singapore, Sweden, etc. are about the size of New Jersey with far less population. It’s important to point out when comparing the U.S. to other countries that we educate everyone which includes illegal immigrants (who presumably don’t pay income tax so can get a public education for free) provided their presence in the classroom isn’t noticed by the authorities. In other countries the government decides which students belong on the academic track and which will go the trade route.So as you go to the polls on November 4th consider the role you think the federal government should play in education. Education has long been a local issue and to my way of thinking it should stay that way. I just don’t have that much confidence in Uncle Sam’s ability to get us on track (can you say social security?) considering the unique challenges we have that other countries don’t.Ann Matturro GaultEducation writer, Real Savvy Moms