The plebians should be making babies and giving up their dreams

Through Avedon Carol, this article proposing that we completely overhaul society so teenagers can get to marriage and babies as soon as humanly possibly. The idea of course is that it sucks that young people in their 20's are running around being happy with their jobs and independence and whatnot before they settle down to have children in a situation that's financially easier to manage than it would have been a decade before. The reason? Well the writer of this piece, Frederica Mathewes-Green, didn't get to enjoy her young adulthood so neither should you.

I got married a week after college graduation, and both my husband and I immediately went to graduate school. We made ends meet by working as janitors in the evenings, mopping floors and cleaning toilets.

She goes on to claim that it was the most wonderful thing ever. Sure it was. I know I'm jealous. Every time I hang out with my friends, have sex in the living room, have time to myself, get to eat something fancier than macaroni and cheese, have a little extra cash to spend, and get to sleep in on Saturday, I just sigh and wish that I could be cranking out the babies.

While the writer skirts the anti-feminism in this article, it's easy enough to see. If a couple marries young and starts having kids, one of them has to give up on the college education and career most of the time. There was never a magical point in history where teenage girls, as a rule, could shove their babies into the arms of grandparents and then go off to grad school every day and then work as janitors at night. It's not just selfishness that keeps young people from delaying marriage and child-bearing--they really don't think it's a great idea for kids to be raising kids.

But what's so wrong with a little bit of "selfishness"? I stand unconvinced that my inner life is lacking because I like having time to myself. But even people who are convinced that having children is the morally superior position to take should be wary of this. I don't really see the advantage of a race to the bottom--who can get married and have children the youngest?