public ranks education as one of the most important issues in this year's presidential campaign, with 91% saying it is "very" or "extremely" important.The educational issue may be based on perceptions of problems as much as it is on reality. Parents of school-aged children are quite satisfied with the quality of education their children receive, but much less so with the educational system in general in the country. Similarly, Americans give higher grades to the schools in their local community than they do to schools nationally.