Marriage rates in U.S. continue to fall

The BBC just released an article last week about the marriage rates in the U.S. which are sharply falling. In 1960, 72 percent of the U.S. adults were married. Today, only 51 percent of adults are married. Between 2009 and 2010, the total percentage dropped by five percent. What exactly could be causing this steady decline in marriage rates? Well, the Brits have a few ideas about that.

Their first idea which makes quite a bit of sense, is that more people are waiting to get married. The average age for a man to get married is 28 years old, and for women its 26 years old. Americans are finding that they don't need to get married immediately to be happy or have financial support. People are waiting to make sure they aren't rushing since they  have more time than previous generations did.

Another factor at play is that since the U.S. divorce rate is about 50 percent, the highest in the world, most Americans don't want to get married only to watch it collapse a few years later. Many people coming from divorced homes don't want to experience the same kind of pain their parents went through.

BBC also believes that the United States may be moving towards a Latin model when it comes to marriage, since a majority of people married today are either college educated or of the upper class persuasion. That's right, the 1 percent not only gets the money, they also get nice stable and happy marriages. Unfortunately, the reason being is that this college-educated/upper class group are able to make enough money to provide stability to the home, making the idea of marriage less of a risky decision.

According to the BBC report, 64 percent of college graduates get married, whereas only 47 percent of (solely) high school graduates get married. While not intentionally moving towards the Latin marriage model, it's the way the United States seems to be heading, especially when the average wedding is around $20,000.

There is one point that the BBC almost hit on, but failed to grasp was that there has been somewhat of a philosophical change towards the idea of marriage. What used to once be a sacred institution where a man and a woman, or a man and a man, or a woman and woman, or the less popular man and farm animal, would be joined together in holy matrimony, doesn't quite exist anymore. Still, there's nothing like saying "Let's live together happily ever after," as a Korean Elvis makes your marriage legal on your spur of the moment trip to Las Vegas. Nothing against Vegas or Korean Elvis, but they don't exactly create romantic or magical moments when they are speeding couples through the "I now pronounce you" line as quickly as possible.

Marriage has fallen back to the ancient times when getting married was a business deal to prevent war or encourage trade. People are getting married in court houses, for reasons like insurance or to boost income, or to avoid dying alone. Adding to the fact that divorce has now become such an easy option, with how often and carefree people divorce, marriage has basically been reduced to dating with a contract. Not a very solid contract either; despite saying you are going to love this person forever and be faithful there is still a monstrously high number of people cheating.

Marriage is dead, but is that a bad thing? In today's society we have created our own form of committed relationships. Nowadays, it isn't appalling if a man and a woman live together without a ring on their fingers, nor is it such a shock for people to have sex before marriage. Is it such a bad thing that marriage is falling to the wayside? Yes it is, and I'll explain why.

Regrettably, here in America, there aren't too many sacred ideals or heroes to live up too. We need marriage to continue to be something pure where two people of any gender or species can come together for love and live up to the words of ‘till death do us part.

Hollywood makes movies about love that lasts like "The Notebook," or a love that transcends even death like the movie "Ghost." As Americans, we are desperately clinging to the idea that marriage can be forever and happily ever after, yet never trying hard enough to make it work.

This may just be the ramblings of a romantic at heart, but there isn't a reason why two people can't make movie-magic real. Marriage is important not for the children or to live up to the expectations of family. The importance of marriage comes from finding someone you love, that one person on Earth that makes you feel safe and encourages you.

Robert Fix is a senior in business. The opinions expressed in his columns do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff. Fix can be reached at forum@dailybarometer.com.