The high school dropout rate crisis poses one of the greatest threats to U.S. economic growth and competitiveness. CBS Evening News with Katie Couric addresses America’s dropout crisis and highlights a few things concerned teachers and schools are doing to solve this problem.

An all too Familiar Story

The students drop out of high school due to various reasons. Most of them feel that their teachers don’t care, their parents don’t care and no one else cares so they wonder why they should put forth the effort when nobody cares about them.

High School Dropout Crisis Worse in Big Cities

According to reports, the high school dropout problem is far worse in larger cities, with approximately half of all students in the country’s 50 largest school districts failing to get a high school diploma. Not so long ago the United States was the world leader in producing high school graduates but today that is no longer the case. The United States now ranks 18th among industrial nations.

Taxpayers Pick up the Tab

The large number of high school dropouts hurts us all in the pocketbook. It costs taxpayers a substantial amount of money annually in public assistance programs like welfare and food stamps. Not to mention it hurts the high school dropouts even more, because high school dropouts tend to earn less per year than workers with diplomas. High school dropouts are also more likely to be unemployed, on welfare, and incarcerated than high school graduates. It has been reported that almost 60 percent of federal inmates are high school drop outs. So this is a serious problem that affects not only the individual, but society as a whole.

“You have high schools in Los Angeles that send more kids to prison, than they graduate from college,” Mike Piscal said. “It’s time for a radical, radical change.”

High School Dropout Problem in Philadelphia

Philadelphia is no exception to this high school dropout problem. As the sixth largest school district in the country, Philadelphia is seeing its fair share of high school dropout cases. It has been reported that about one of every three students in the school district of Philadelphia fails to graduate.

CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports that of the 4 million students who enter high school every year, one million of them will drop out before graduation. That’s a fairly large number of dropouts in a school day.

Solving the Dropout Crisis in L.A.’s Toughest Neighborhoods

Piscal believes he has found a solution. He is a former English teacher from the most rigorous private school in Los Angeles and he opened View Park Prep 15 years ago. In doing so he brought the private school’s curriculum to one of south L.A.’s toughest neighborhoods stating,
“What’s best for the rich kids is best for all kids.”

Another Solution Emerges in Philadelphia

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, another solution emerges to deal with the dropout crisis. At-risk students are now being identified as early as the 6th grade. And for the students who have already dropped out, there is a re-engagement center to help them re-enter school and finish what they’ve started. A recent report showed that the solution seems to be working because Philadelphia has since improved its graduation rate by 23 percent. Way to go Philly!

All it took was someone who cared to turn a bad situation into something good. All these students really wanted were someone to grab them by the hand and be told that no one is going to give up on them, even if they have. All it took was one person to make a difference!