Penna Dexter

It was once a given that a young person would graduate from high school, get a job, marry and then — and only then — have children.

No longer. Today, half of American babies are born to unmarried mothers. Economist Melissa Kearney, author of The Two Parent Privilege says, “Roughly 30 percent of kids in the U.S. live outside a two-parent home.” The results are devastating. She says, “kids growing up in single-mother homes are five times more likely to live in poverty than kids growing up in married parent homes.”

Legislators in Tennessee recognize the problem. According to The Wall Street Journal, they “are aiming to reorient public education toward students’ long-term flourishing.” Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recently signed a bill that “amends the state’s family life curricula to include discussion of marriage, family structure, and the importance of work.”

Schools in Tennessee will now teach a concept called the success sequence. Students will look at data which shows them they’re more likely to thrive if they graduate from high school, work full time, and get married before having children.

This wisdom is confirmed by the latest research. Brad Wilcox, Professor of Sociology at University of Virginia and author of Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization, says, “No group of Americans are more financially secure than married men and women.“

As Melissa Kearney explains, “Two parents combined, have more resources than one.” And, beyond this economic benefit, she says, “two adults in the household have more time than one alone.” And they have more “emotional bandwidth.”

Prof. Wilcox says, “No group of Americans today are happier than married dads and married mothers.”  His research shows, “There’s no group of guys who are more likely to end up dying deaths of despair, suicide, alcoholism, drug overdoses than less educated men who are single.“

Polling shows that teaching the success sequence is “politically popular.” More states should adopt it.