Marriage and Academic Freedom

According to a report on the fertility of U.S. women in 2006, the number of children ever born per women

• with a high school diploma was 1.719 and
• with a bachelor's degree was 1.632.

Why do those with more education have fewer children? Is it because we value education over children or knowledge instead of new life? Or is this simply a correlation that does not imply a causation? Both men and women are putting off marriage, though; the median age of first marriage in 2003 was 27 years for men and 25 years for women, and in 1960 it was 22 and 20 years, respectively (U.S. Census Bureau). Is this due to higher education requiring a prolonged adolescence? Why should it? Are learning, researching, educating, and doing science not manly or womanly endeavors? Or are they just child's-play?

Marriage is a sacrament, i.e., it confers sanctifying grace, the same grace that makes one virtuously excel at academics or scientific research. Yes, it can even make one a better scholar. To understand better the beginning of this sacrament, watch this: