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Why We Need to Teach Teens About the History of Marriage
If something is so important legally, financially and culturally, youths need to understand marriage is not a romantic fairy tale
What do teens think about marriage? A few months ago, the New York Times presented that question to middle- and high-school aged teens. Their responses are illuminating — so illuminating that I believe we need to have a conversation with young adults about marriage.
Riffing off a survey by the Pew Research Center, the Times ran an article, “Unmarried Couples Gain in Numbers, but Survey Finds Married Ones May Be Happier,” saying that “unmarried couples report significantly less satisfaction in their relationships than do married couples, who report higher levels of trust in their partners’ honesty, fidelity and spending habits,” and then followed up by asking teens, well, what do you think about marriage and cohabitation?
First, I have some problems with what kind of unmarried couples were surveyed — were they couples who are living together for mere convenience or long-term couples who reject the institution of marriage for what they consider valid reasons, like economists, life partners and co-parents Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers. who reject marriage because of taxes. Are they…
