Unfortunately, in America, marriage rates are at an all-time low. More and more individuals are now choosing to raise children as single parents or parents who cohabitate. That first institution – the Biblical plan for the family – however, is for one man and one woman to unite in the covenant of marriage for life and raise their children with their union as the foundation of their lives. Recent statistics show that there are many benefits for children if parents follow the Biblical blueprint for marriage and family.
One of the benefits of intact marriages raising children is academic performance. There are many factors involved in determining a child’s academic success, such as emotional support, leadership from parents, discipline, and many other things.
However, study after study has found that a major factor that will play a massive role in a child’s academic success is if he or she is raised in a household where the biological mother and father are committed in marriage.
Nicholas Zill, a sociologist from the Institute for Family Studies states, “Beginning with the 1966 Coleman Report, a long line of studies have found that students from intact, married families do better in school than those from disrupted or unmarried families.”
Statistics show that children who are living with both married parents are performing better academically. The National Household Education Survey revealed that over half of students that are being raised by their mother and father in a marriage relationship had mostly “A” grades. The survey then showed that less than half of students who are being raised in other family types received mostly “A” grades. In fact, fifty-four percent of married-parent students had mostly “A” grades.
Furthermore, statistically, children have better behavior in school when they are raised in an intact married mother and father. National Household Education Survey also found that students who are being raised by either a single mother or single father, or by cohabitating birth parents were being suspended at a rate one-and-a-half-times higher than that of students who are being raised by an intact marriage.
Children who are raised in intact families of a mother and father united in marriage statistically do better in school. Christine Kim who formerly served as a policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation wrote, “Overall, children from intact families complete more years of schooling and achieve higher educational attainment than do peers from other family forms.”
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