As the Super Bowl of American politics crescendos toward the Nov. 6 election day, the candidates’ positions on important social issues are being debated, discussed and concreted in the media, online forums and blogs and in the voters’ minds. The social, economic and international issues facing us at this time require address from the candidates.

One particularly important topic is education. As college students, especially those of us with student loans, the positions of the candidates and the outcome of the election will affect us directly for the next several years of our lives. As citizens it means our social potential and ability to compete in an increasingly global, technologically driven economy.

Every three years, the 34 nations in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, including the United States, are ranked according to performance on an academic test taken by 15 year olds in each county. This data is used as a snapshot of sorts to see how the nations compare to each other in terms of academic performance and government spending on education.

The most recent study was conducted in 2009; the United States ranked 2nd in spending and 25th in performance. Clearly something about our education system is not functioning correctly. Each candidate believes that his position on education will benefit the American people.

Romney is in favor of primary and secondary education being transitioned to a voucher system, where money goes directly to parents so that they can decide where their children go and what type of education they receive. This requires that options exist, and that there is a clear way to compare these options, but Romney makes no mention of standards for comparison.

Romney’s position on current standards, for both academic institutions and teachers, is that they should be state mandated rather than federally mandated, with a goal of increasing student performance and teaching effectiveness. He supports incentives for states to reform or eliminate teacher tenure and to institute an effective evaluation system, arguing that teachers will perform better when they know they are being evaluted.

Romney’s position on higher education is particularly applicable to college students, and his position has the potential to affect us for years. Student loan debt is increasingly problematic in our country. The long term financial burden placed on citizens by debt affects the financial system and the credit market. Romney favors reduction of federal spending on higher education, in the form of student loans and Pell Grants. He would take steps to reduce the Department of Education and use its resources to inform families and students with financial need about their options.

Also to the end of reducing federal involvement in higher education funding, Romney would like to do the opposite of Barack Obama and privatize the educational loan market and higher education in general. Romney believes the government should have little to do with financing or supporting citizens pursuit of higher education, and that the private sector will do a better job of both providing support for people to get educated as well educate them itself.