Students Get Older, Does Love Get Older Too?
Currently, the meaning of love and relationship standards can vary between individuals based on their educational level. A young elementary school student will have a different perspective on love and relationship standards compared to a college or high school student.
Everyone has a unique mindset that includes morals, but relationship standards will fluctuate as students get older because their values change as time goes on. Most four-year-old children will most likely not have the same interpretation of what love is compared to an adult.
Second-grader Sarai Covarrubias doesn’t know what the word “love” means. It seems that people in her grade throw the word “love” around, making it appear as though their relationship standards are exceptionally love. Covarrubias discusses her friend’s perspective on love.
“Her name’s Chloe and she likes Eric, he’s a first-grader,” Covarrubias said. “She just told me that she was in love with Eric.”
It’s often easy to confuse a crush with love, especially at such a young age. Studies show how 80% of children have a crush on someone, with 60% of kids opening up to others about who they have feelings for and 40% of children keeping it private. (KH 2021)
Mia Gonzalez is a sixth-grade middle school student. She believes that her standards are high when it comes to relationships. Gonzalez claims that it is distracting when the guys in her class act goofy and she wants to find the perfect person for her.
Gonzalez believes that personality is the most important thing when it comes to relationships and her expectations. She seeks someone who is respectful, caring, and kind, but emphasizes that it’s hard to find that at this age.
“I don’t think you could find love this young,” Gonzalez said. “I think everyone should be happy that, you know, they’re not gonna lie to you, that you could trust them and they won’t break it.”
High school junior Fabiola Martinez mentions how she was in a relationship before and genuinely had feelings for him. Martinez liked his funny personality but felt that they both wanted different things in life. She touches on how she is young and just wants to venture out and try new things.
“In general I think I have lower standards, honestly for me if a guy likes me then I like them back,” Martinez said. “I mean if they’re cute, that’s a plus, like if they’re not cute that’s fine by me. I feel like they have to be smart, I feel like they have to have goals and plans for the future and what they may want to do.”
Leslie Flores, a freshman in college, feels that children force themselves into wanting to be in a relationship because they cannot survive without one. Flores says that she has lower standards, but isn’t looking for a relationship right now because of how much she values her independence.
“Well right now, how I see it, everybody’s getting pregnant, everybody’s getting married. And that is just, you know, that’s too much,” Flores said. “I honestly see it as a better thing not being in a relationship because you have no one controlling you.”
According to Campus Explorer, students that are in college would rather have a short-term relationship compared to a serious relationship due to the fact that it helps students focus on their goals career-wise and academically.
Even though love and relationship standards come in so many different forms and understandings, it’s important to prioritize happiness one day at a time.
“I feel like you shouldn’t have to depend on the person to make you happy, I feel you should be happy by yourself and content with yourself and being with someone is just a plus,” Martinez said. “They make you feel like you’re a better person because of them.”
Faye Cooper • Oct 20, 2021 at 9:43 am
I think that you did great when going into the different years of life and how love looks through those times. Relationships are often complicated, they get more complicated as you get older, and understanding how they get more complicated with the understanding of education levels and connections between relationships.
Justin Kaye • Oct 20, 2021 at 9:36 am
This was a very strong piece for many reasons, the biggest one being the perspectives felt relatable and gave it an organic feel. I also liked how the article went through age, from youngest, to oldest. This shows how to opinion on love generally changes.
Jocelyn M Guillermo • Oct 6, 2021 at 12:08 pm
Your headline is very captivating and interesting. I especially admire the format of your article into sectioning it off to youngest to oldest. It really helped me get a perspective of relationships in all age groups. I think adding a survey into your article regarding what DVC students feel regarding relationships would have made it stronger but it is still a strong and great article. Overall, Great job in including your interviews, great headline, and great article!
Richy Franco • Oct 6, 2021 at 12:01 pm
While reading this article I was thinking about the worries and of course standards set on what love actually is and if people still believed in this. I felt what you did well in your article was providing interviews for clarification and the different POV’s that you shared were really helpful. Giving these interviews from people with different standards for love and relationships really made your point more clear and the reasoning provided to everything was very useful.
Adrian Flores • Oct 6, 2021 at 11:56 am
The article was a strong piece overall, with great statistics and not too many biases. The cool feedback Id gives you is perhaps to use more interviews and quotes. I feel as if the quotes would have supported your claims much more. Another cool feedback Id give you is perhaps the formatting of the article could have been a little bit more structured, the flow seems off. Overall I loved how you touched on a topic not many talks about. I loved how you used an annecdote. Great article.
Kadi Donis • Oct 6, 2021 at 11:53 am
Emma! I really love your article overall. You did an amazing job, because overall your article is very strong. I love the way you came up with your headline it gets right to the point on what you are going to talk about. The way you use descriptive words is also very strong, you use amazing adjectives and verbs as well in your article. The lead as well is very strong and it caught my eye right at the moment. Another thing that I really love is the way that you use different perspective which shows more of a different side in each person. I would actually love to see another perspective of like adults when they go through the elderly stage.
Jasmine Villafana • Oct 6, 2021 at 9:47 am
When reading this article, the introduction really caught my eye and captivated my attention. Especially since the title began with “students get older, does love get older too?”. I really enjoyed how within the article she talks about different perspectives from underclassmen. I also really enjoy how she really focses on the fact that younger kids will have a complete different perspective on love and almost explains her introduction and lets it almost play out. One thing this article really focuses on is the views on students closer to my age who may have the same opinions/ views as me at this time in my life. The writer really connected with readers by doing that. It made me feel as if I was reading something that was genuinely meant for us teens.
Vanessa Diaz • Oct 6, 2021 at 9:43 am
I feel like this topic has been the elephant in the room for a while and was something that needed to be brought up. I think it was really important that there were views and opinions from a variety of different people at different stages in life. Even then, love is different for everybody and everyone sees love differently, no matter the age. I think with kids in high school, it’s an awkward stage in life where you’re not sure whether or not you’re still too young to fall in love. I think that this article gave a wide range of info and really dug into the topic. Overall, it was a very interesting and informative read.
Troi Harvey • Oct 6, 2021 at 8:56 am
I really enjoyed this article Emma! I loved how you got interviews from kids of all age groups, it really proved what you were telling the reader about. Reading the second grader and sixth grader’s parts made it very interesting and a it was eye opening to see thier perspectives on love. Overall this was written very well and kept me intrested the whole time. I actually would really love to see this umong adults and older people.
Madeleine Perez • Oct 6, 2021 at 8:47 am
I really love the concept of how the interpretation of love changes through time. I liked how you input the interviews of people from a variety of age groups, it really explains how different age groups view love. Some parts are cynical, but it really adds to how genuine the article is.
Chloe Orti • Oct 6, 2021 at 8:46 am
This article was very well written and easy to follow. I think this is such an interesting topic because it is relevant to everyone, but not necessarily something someone would consider on their own. Everyone can relate to this because people of all ages have probably experienced romantic attraction or a crush at some point in their life. I like how you interviewed people from a variety of ages, really highlighting how the perspective on love changes from when you’re a child to when you’re an older teen/adult. Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable read.