By Sierra James
“My dad doesn’t know because, well, basically if I told him he wouldn’t care. He wants me dead,” said sophomore Malyk Marshall.
Sophomore Desiree Santiago and her fiancé Malyk Marshall have agreed to get married on December 23, 2014.
According to parenting teen’s statistics, teen marriage is usually defined as two people from the age of 14-19, join in marriage. Statistics say that teen marriage is two to three times more likely to end in divorce, compared to a couple 25 years of age or older.
Despite the statistics Desiree and Malyk have decided to take the risk.
“It’s going to be a big change in my life because I’m done looking,” said Santiago.
Desiree feels Malyk is the person she wants to spend the rest of her life with.
“I believe that love isn’t finding the perfect person but, seeing an imperfect person perfectly,” said Santiago.
Although Malyk may not be perfect, she sees him as perfect. Malyk Marshall has no doubts that Desiree is the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with.
“Well hey, I love her for one, and well I’ve known her since fifth grade and I fell in love with her in the eighth. Bottom line, I see myself with not any other specimen other than her. She’s not any type of girl; she’s my own little dose of space,” said Malyk Marshall.
There are different reasons why teenagers decide to get married. Some reasons are pregnancy, teenagers want to grow up fast, and some want to just escape from their lives at home. Unlike some teens, Malyk and Desiree have decided to get married because they are in love.
Desiree has not yet told her parents about her big plans. Malyk has told his mother but, not yet told his father. His mother is doing all she can to help, despite not living with him. He does not plan on telling his father because he tends not to care.
Laura McDougal, a parent of two children, Mataya Simmons and Sean Cummings, had a lot of different thoughts on the subject of teen marriage. Laura believes that the mid 20’s would be a good age to make this decision, but it depends on the couple’s maturity level.
“I generally don’t approve of teen marriages. I’m sure if you were to study statistics on the matter you would find that the vast majority of teen marriages fail,” said McDougal.
“I would be against my son or daughter getting married at that age because I would want them to enjoy the experiences of highschool and college before making the commitment of marriage,” she said.
Teen marriage is a difficult choice to make between the couple no matter how easy you may think it is. The couple has to make sure they are both willing to be an “us”, meaning share pretty much everything they have. They have to also make sure that it’s something they want to deal with for the rest of their lives. If they feel it is right and have gone over all the pros and cons then they will decide whether or not they want to make the commitment Malyk and Desiree have made.
*Note: Names have been changed due to student preference
