Editor:

Patrick Muir’s column (“Jobs are more cool than school,” Feb. 17) belonged in the Opinion section of the newspaper.

He should check his facts because his seeming assertions that delaying marriage until after college is better is simply untrue in many contexts.

First of all, those who are married are more likely to make it through college still physically and emotionally healthy. Research studies have shown that people who are married are significantly more likely to live longer, suffer from fewer stress-related illnesses and use drugs and alcohol less. Better health correlates with doing better in school, which can then lead to doing better after school.

I’ve not included these research studies in the interest of space, but you are free to contact me if you would like to see the paper I wrote on the effects of marriage on health.

Next, the U has the largest married student housing facilities in the country. Read: bigger than BYU’s. That means that there are a heck of a lot of married students at the U, which in turn means that we’re not that different from BYU in that regard. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’m one of those married students.)

You said that your friend Lowell Oswald will be “light-years ahead of his classmates who focused on…other endeavors” (meaning marriage and having children).

That may well be, but what is the measuring stick of “doing better?” He may receive a higher-paying job, but does that put him light-years ahead? Many people find greater satisfaction and fulfillment in family life, religious and secular service, military or other endeavors than they do in a high-paying job. Your salary does not denote your worth as a person or your standing in life.

Finally, why can’t married students complete internships? I know married students who have started their own businesses, finished medical residency programs, interned with major accounting firms, as well as other internships that may or may not pay well, who then proceed to well-paying, satisfying jobs. These people still have their marriages intact and some even have children.

Cory Huff? Junior, Actor Training Program