Relationships are put to the test

The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet were created, receives about 1,000 letters sent to Juliet on Valentine’s Day. In addition, February is known as the month of love. With love comes relationships, and with relationships comes both good and bad emotions. Though relationships have their benefits such as the opportunity to experience mental maturation, the hindrance they cause outweighs their helpful outcomes.

Being in a devoted relationship, couples must make the extra effort to strengthen their relationship. Without work being put into it, nothing successful will result. Students feel obligated to text their boyfriend or girlfriend every day. Advanced technology makes accessibility easier through tools like video chats and social media websites. The amount of time put into a serious relationship is often times evidenced by a decline in academic efficiency. Contributing to a healthy relationship can detract from time normally spent doing homework.

Because of the large amount of teen couples canoodling on campus, it is only natural for students to want a boyfriend or girlfriend. However, most high school students in serious relationships never look past the relationship as something fun to be involved in to take off the stress from their busy academic lives. Yet, the whole point of dating is to see if that one boy or girl can be a potential spouse.

“Being young, I know that [my] decisions can be somewhat rash and naïve at times,” junior Mia Nakamura said.

In the event that teenage couples do survive high school together, a study done by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that there is a 48 percent chance that students younger than 18 are likely to have a divorce within 10 years. However, those that marry after age 25 only have a 24 percent chance of divorcing. Teenagers are not as capable of making lifelong decisions and tend to make spur-of-the-moment judgments. Often blinded by puppy love, they make impulsive choices.

The data found in the study clearly illustrates the improbability of achieving success in marrying a high school sweetheart. Learning to be patient and keep a cool head amidst all the relationship drama will result in no hard feelings or broken hearts.