United States -- Address High School Drop Out Rate!

In the United States, 857 students drop out of high school every hour. This is the message that a College Board created exhibit at the National Mall wanted to convey, with 857 empty desks set up in a row. 

High school drop outs have much higher unemployment rates and lower median earnings, and are also much more likely to be on welfare. They commit 75% of crimes in the United States. 

If the dropouts from the class of 2010 had graduated from high school, this would have resulted in $5.3 billion in earnings, $6.7 billion in GDP, and $499 million in state tax revenue -- just graduating a half of one class of dropouts would save the government $45 billion a year. 

It is time for the United States to fix -- really fix -- the problems with education, and address the drop out rate. Please tell the United States government to do just that!