If you were to grade Arizona’s education system, it would be much closer to an ‘F’ for failure than ‘A’ for amazing.

The state spends only $7,338 per pupil per year, well below the national average of $9,683, according to U.S. Department Education, and Arizona has also consistently ranked very near the bottom in comparison to other states in educational achievement.

Inspiring, isn’t it?

But not only does the state inadequately fund its students, the students themselves aren’t graduating from high school at the rate they should be.

The Alliance for Excellent Education labeled 49 Arizona high schools “dropout factories.”

This means that in 17 percent of the state’s high schools, no more than 60 percent of current Arizona freshmen will actually wear caps and gowns and receive their diplomas in 2013.

These dropout factories are repeatedly marked by low-income and minority students, and the situation just feeds into a vicious circle for Arizona’s students, its economy and the university system.

But for 50 students attending one of these factories, Central High School in Phoenix, a chance at a better education may come from three ASU students.

The ASU students are part of a West campus initiative, the Rodel Progam, which works to improve pre-K-12 public education in Arizona. The students plan to mentor 50 high schoolers, especially those who are potential first-generation college attendees.

With Arizona said to have one of the worst education systems in the country, these ASU students are doing the state and the university a great service.

It is easy to be discouraged at ASU. Students become so frustrated with a low-scoring paper or high-cost tuition that primary and secondary education became a fleeting memory from the past. But if someone didn’t help you succeed in high school would you even be here?

Maybe it was a teacher who believed in you or a parent who pushed you.

Maybe it was a college student who enticed you with a Sparky plush toy when you were in grade school. It doesn’t matter who helped you, it matters that you got here, and that’s exactly why these ASU students are trying to encourage high school students to succeed.

We all know the importance of college in providing the basis for a good life. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be sitting through lecture classes and studying for midterms. But just like the waning dollar we depend on to be economically stable, degrees are becoming less valuable without more education to back them up. High school diplomas are not nearly as important now without bachelor’s degrees, and post-graduate degrees are looking more and more necessary if you want to be truly competitive in today’s workforce.

If 17 percent of Arizona schools have retention problems that prevent huge percentages of students from graduating, it means year after year, teenagers settle for work that doesn’t require even a high school diploma. These kids could be writers, entrepreneurs or doctors, but without finishing their education, many will probably end up working low-wage jobs for the rest of their lives.

But we can help push them in the right direction. Just a little bit of attention to one kid could change his or her life. Someone was there for us, shouldn’t someone be there for them?