First in an occasional series on the issues in the 1992 presidential campaign.

ANGRY RHETORIC and "character questions" have dominated this year's presidential campaign. Most issues are mentioned only in soundbites or promises, with little substantive debate.

The state of education in America is one of those issues.

Candidates in both parties say education reform is a fundamental tenet of their platforms. They agree that education is central to curing the nation's long-term economic ills.

But professors at the Graduate School of Education say that education issues have received very little attention this election year.

"It's hard to see it in the newspapers at all," says Professor of Education Jerome T. Murphy.

Education scholars agree that the lingering recession has pushed education down on the national agenda.

"Across the country, social issues, including education, have taken a back seat to the economy and the recession," says Arthur Levine, former president of Bradford College and a senior lecturer at the Ed School.

Levine adds that education is at the bottom of the ladder of social issues, beneath health care concerns and prison reform.

Although people recognize the importance of education, the issues that are at the forefront of discussion are those that affect the people most directly, he says.

"The position of education in this election is relative to the condition of the nation," says Levine.

Other scholars, including Professor of Education and Social Structure Nathan Glazer, say education's lack of exposure is less indicative of the electorate's concerns and more a result of the campaigns themselves.

"This is not the kind of campaign in which the issues are playing a big role," says Glazer. "I have not been impressed by the relative weight given to issues in this election."

OF THE FOUR ACTIVE CANDIDATES for the presidency, conservative Patrick J. Buchanan has the least substantive platform on education.

As a former public official, his record on education is nearly non-existent.