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Jun 21st 2012, 20:54

It's a pretty special year and not because Prince William turns 30 but because it's an election year! You and I have issues that we want our next president to show love for like jobs, the economy and education! In fact, the College Board wants schools to be a much bigger part of this upcoming election and they have a unique way of getting people's attention.

They've even given their campaign the catchy title, Don't Forget Ed. To start their education-minded campaign, the College Board put 857 school desks at the National Mall in Washington, DC. That's not a random number -- 857 is the number of students dropping out every single hour of every single school day.

College Board President Gaston Caperton spelled out why they're doing this: "If our schools fail, then so will everything else -- from our economy to national security. Yet every four years, the issue of education is shockingly underplayed on the campaign trail."

Seeing all those desks might be pretty eye-opening, but it's only the start. The College Board has a petition to be given to the presidential candidates when they're officially nominated at their party's conventions. They also have a cute lil PSA you can watch below.

And of course they're going to be spreading the message of Don't Forget Ed through Facebook and Twitter, especially on August 15, when they'll be asking people via social media to send a powerful message to the candidates. Peter Kauffmann, the vice president of communications at the College Board, said they're not pushing for a specific policy. A lot of different people aren't so happy with the state of schools, but a lot of people also have different opinions on how to fix schools. This is about opening dialogue. We know that more than 1.2 million students drop out of school each year . . . can you imagine that many desks at the National Mall?

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