College Board is making a statement on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

They set up 857 desks to represent the number of students that drop out of school EACH HOUR of EVERY DAY!!! WOW!!!

College Board representatives including college students are going to circle around the desks talking to passersby about the situation.

I wish I could get off work to go see this today. I wish them well in their endeavors.

Thanks Dianne,

I had not heard about this until I read your posting. I am glad to have learned about it. Are they talking about high school or college? Both are a problem - but very different problems.

It is unfortunate how many students leave college before graduating.

Retention of students is a major focus at every college. There are many reasons people leave colleges: to find a better fit, money issues, change in career choice, unable to keep up with the workload, lack of genuine desire to attend, pregnancy, health issue, family issues, conflict with other activities, etc.

One of the biggest reasons that I have personally seen for students leaving is that the college they choose was not a good fit for them. I have seen students leave to go to smaller schools, bigger schools, schools in different settings, private schools, schools with a major they have just selected, a school they could not get into at first but could as a transfer student, etc. Unfortunately is is very tough to track why students leave and where they go once they have left. Because I so often see students leave to find schools that are a better fit, I always encourage prospective students to learn about themselves and to research the colleges before making a decision. While that won't help other reasons for leaving school, it can mitigate some of the problem.

Of course each reason that students may leave college must be looked at individually to offer possible solutions.