First of all, let me get this out of the way. I hate MTV. I loathe it. But for some reason, every now and then, I turn it on. Apparently, I need my fix of trashy people screaming at each other. Anyway, today I stumbled upon Engaged and Underage.
Basically, the gist of the show is that MTV follows around a couple, between the ages of 18 to 22, for a few weeks leading up to their wedding. As a high school teacher who has had several students tell me that they’re engaged (What? No ring? Oh, you’ll get one later? Riiight.), it had my interest.
At least for a few minutes.
Like almost all MTV shows, we quickly find out that the people are all dysfunctional. The couple screams and swears at each other, and eventually, they get married and think everything will be all right.
It’s kind of funny, because I imagine that some of the couples we are taking our marriage counseling classes with probably communicate the same way at home. I think Sarah and I have been so successful in our relationship because of the years of communication practice we’ve had in college classes and in our own classrooms with our students. Sure, we’ll have our problems, but at least we have the communication skills to work through them.
That’s something that young couples who are fresh out of high school (or still in high school) just don’t have. Now, if only MTV would try to get that point across in Engaged and Underage. Yeah, I know. Wishful thinking.
