⚓ Welcome to Tidal Echoes

Series: “Youth Speaks Its Mind” (A republication of our hometown newspaper, The Suffolk County News, from 65 years ago)

Our history isn't just a timeline; it's a series of waves that shape who we are today. In this series, we revisit the bold voices of Sayville’s past. Today, we listen to Linda Kurdt as she examines the social trend of student marriages and the search for security in 1961.

Originally published in The Suffolk County News on April 13th, 1961. Transcribed for the Sayville Alumni Association.

Student Marriages and the 'Snatching' at Happiness

By Linda Kurdt, Sayville High School

There is a pronounced increase in student marriages in the United States today. In most colleges, and especially in the big state universities and non resident colleges in cities, student marriages are becoming more frequent.

One reason that often accounts for this trend is that everyone is doing things younger today. The world is putting a strain on our young men today when we realize what they are expected to do in war.

A second factor is that war and the fear of war have caused parents of these kids to say, “We want you to have fun now. Enjoy life while you can. The future is uncertain.”

This sort of pressure drives young people into “snatching” at happiness. It's striking the way students feel that if you aren't married and don't have your career and a house by the time you're 25, somehow you'll never get these things.

On the whole, married undergraduates are good students—in the sense that they get through their exams. If they need scholarships, they work for the necessary grades, but they don't work for the subject matter any more. They have to get the next degree, so that they can get the next job or the next fellowship grant so that they can support their children.

A great many of these early marriages — if there are children early—seem to be surviving reasonably well. If there are no children, and the wife is supporting the husband, they have a tremendous record of breakups.

If all young men and women settle down at the earliest possible moment, never experiment, never try a new job if they can help it but stick to the old one that's safe, never go on to more education because they're already saddled with children—we're going to get a settled, security-loving unadventurous people. And this is going to happen just at the moment in history when the people of China and Russia feel that the future belongs to them, that it's worth sacrificing for, worth working for.

⚓ Cast Your Thoughts

How do these words from 1961 land today? Reflecting on Linda Kurdt's insights:

• linda mentions the pressure to have a career and a house by age 25—did you feel that same rush to "settle down" after graduating from sayville?
• she writes about parents encouraging their children to "enjoy life while you can" due to the uncertainty of war. was this a sentiment shared by your own family in 1961?
• looking back at the "settled, security-loving" generation she feared, how do you think the class of '62 and '63 balanced that desire for security with their own sense of adventure?