The middle aged housewife, a mother of three precious children, broods mournfully about the upcoming divorce. She bitterly curses the name of her soon to be ex-husband, who instigated the divorce with petty excuses: "I just need to rediscover my individual identity", and his favorite: "It's not you, it's me" However, deep down they both knew it was by virtue of the many unresolved dissensions in their relationship. She is only one in millions of couples who share the same situation; fateful divorces like this are very common but have very long lasting detrimental effects. Unbeknownst to them, their sorrow could have possibly been averted if they had taken a conflict resolution class before the inception of their holy matrimony.
Complications and disagreements are inevitable in marriages, but how they're handled is what sets the prosperous unions apart. Unresolved conflicts may lead to divorce, which is extremely detrimental not only to the family, but also to the state due to legal court fees. Successful marriages are temples built with stones of effective conflict resolving mechanisms, which is an ability that can be taught. Although some may argue that a required prenuptial curriculum would be a violation of the bill of rights, it would better prepare individuals going into marriage to fulfill their new roles of spouse and potentially parent, and reduce millions of dollars taxpayers spend annually on divorce.
Mandatory conflict resolution classes would improve the stability of the American family unit. Experts have found that "86% of the couples that have taken any pre-marital classes" have subsequently stayed in their marriage (Duffield, Brigid). If you compare that incredible statistic to the contemporary divorce rate of 50% in normal marriages, you can find a colossal 36% reduction in divorce. The plethora of strategies for resolving conflicts, which include providing manifold compliments and just forgiveness in general, are extremely effective at combating inter-marital strife.