1.
GV "Preacher" performing mock marriage ceremonies at school as "in-laws" watch. (5 shots)
0.19

2.
CU "Brides" and "Grooms" celebrating (5 shots)
0.40

3.
SV Marriage course teachers being interviewed.
0.43

4.
CU Female teacher speaking.
0.46

5.
CU Male teacher speaking.
0.38

6.
SV Married couple speaking. (3 shots)
1.12

7.
CU Groom speaking
1.20

8.
CU Another groom speaking.
1.33

9.
GV Couple lined up having marriages annulled. (8 shots)
2.00


PREACHER: "We are gathered here today to join these young men and women in simulation marriage."



WOMAN TEACHER: "I think perhaps our approaches are preventive medicine maybe."



MALE TEACHER: "Most important we thought was to try and teach people something about themselves as persons and to try and get them in tune with their communication patterns with other people."



YOUNG WOMAN SPEAKING: "Marriage is complex. It's not just two people walking off into the sunset. It's complicated."



YOUNG MAN SPEAKING: "The thing that I probably learned that was the most important was that how much I had to work at marriage. And that it's not as easy as it usually sounds."



2ND YOUNG MAN SPEAKING: "I figured at first I'd be really scared to go over and meet the in-laws 'cos I'd previously gone out, gone to dinner over there, and it made me really comfortable to know it was like I was actually their own son-in-law."



TRANSCRIPT



JAMIESON: "The marriages took place two months ago with proud mothers clutching instamatics and teenage faces covered with blushes and shy smiles. The ceremony was only make believe. But just about everything else about the marriages was for real. The teachers gave the happy couples problems to work out together, just as in real life. Budgets to live in and from which to buy a house and furniture and all the rest. And later each couple confronted a simulated crisis, extra-marital affairs, unwanted pregnancies, what to do with an aged parent who wants to move in. The course was taught by Bob Hannon and Anne Slattery."



TRANSCRIPT



JAMIESON: "Almost to a person the young couples agreed marriage turned out to be more work than they thought it would be."



TRANSCRIPT



JAMIESON: "Today the partnerships were dissolved. The student teacher who had married the couples performed an annulment ceremony. The students rate the course a big success and say they look forward to real marriage. There seemed to be only one problem. The real girlfriend of one boy taking the course complained a lot that he was spending too much time with his make-believe bridge. Bob Jamieson, NBC News, Arlington Heights, Illinois."




Initials VS 2.00 VS 2.10


TELERECORDING
BOB JAMIESON.
This film is serviced with an English commentary by NBC Reporter Bob Jamieson. A transcript appears overleaf. The film also has interviews with the teachers and couples participating in the course. A transcript appears below.

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A high school in Arlington Heights, Illinois has been encouraging its teenage students to get married --- but they say the marriages are not valid.

The school in the United States has introduced a new marriage guidance course. Young couples take part in a mock marriage ceremony. For the next few weeks they have to discuss the problems of married life to prepare them for the real thing in a few years time.

Teachers set the problems for them which range from budgeting to buying a house to extra-marital affairs.

After a few weeks, the young couples assemble again and their "marriages" are annulled.

SYNOPSIS: A high school in the United States has been encouraging its young teenage students to get married. But the school in Illinois says the marriages are not valid. Bob Jamieson reports.