High school romances, high school sweethearts- such an appealing idea. So many people want to be dating someone in high school, and who doesn’t love a good high school sweethearts story? For better or for worse, high school romance is, well, romanticized. But how many of these relationships are really as great as they sound? Are they really all that they’re cracked up to be?

High school romances have been around as long as the high school itself, and probably always will be. There’s a certain feeling that comes with being in a relationship in high school- maybe you’re less lonely now, or maybe you feel more grown-up. Whatever the reason, high schoolers will usually try to find love amongst one another. 

According to The Comet, 30 percent of high school students believe that high school relationships will last forever, but less than 2 percent of marriages are made up of high school sweethearts. 

According to brandongaille.com, however, it depends on when you get married. High school sweethearts who pull a “Romeo & Juliet” and get married in their teens have only a 54 percent likelihood of their marriage lasting 10 years. Although, high school sweethearts who wait until the age of 25 to get married have a contrastingly higher 78 percent chance of a lasting marriage. 

This may be because of what many people believe- that it isn’t likely, or even possible for high schoolers to experience real love, as their bodies and minds haven’t finished developing yet. However, that isn’t always the case. 

Karlee Keene ‘21 believes that high schoolers in relationships, though many won’t last, can find love. Keene also believes that for a relationship to last, that good treatment, proper communication, and effort from both parties is essential. 

That seems to be a common opinion at PHS. “If I had to pick one thing it would be a combination of honesty and communication for sure,” says Garret Slotman ‘21, when asked what he thinks makes a long-lasting relationship.

While it’s important to know what people think makes a good relationship, it’s even more important to see some of the contributing factors to existing successful relationships. The same goes for some advice as to what ultimately causes the downfall of a relationship.

“We get along super well…[and] we both respect each other’s boundaries and wants,” replied a senior girl. She believes that the reason that many relationships fall through is that there wasn’t a good enough connection between the two people involved.

However, not all students at PHS share a positive opinion about high school relationships. When asked in a survey, 47.4 percent of students said that they didn’t think high school relationships were likely to last very long. Despite that, more than half of PHS students believed that people in high school experience real love in their relationships.

High school romances and relationships have always been a hot topic of debate because so many people have vastly different opinions about them. High schoolers remain the ones most adamantly on either side of that debate, as they are the ones who experienced high school romances the most recently.

 While not everyone agrees with the idea of high school sweethearts or the idea of long-lasting high school romances, it is important to understand that in high school, relationships are a way for people to emotionally transition to real-world relationships, and should be treated as something that you can learn from.