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MATC INSTRUCTOR MARLINE PEARSON FEATURED IN PBS DOCUMENTARY ON MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS

6/2/2004

MATC INSTRUCTOR MARLINE PEARSON FEATURED IN PBS DOCUMENTARY ON MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS
Madison Area Technical College instructor Marline Pearson and several of her students are featured in a PBS documentary, "Marriage: Just a Piece of Paper?" Released nationally in January for broadcast in various markets, the program is scheduled to make its Wisconsin debut on Milwaukee Public Television (WMVS, Channel 10) at 11 p.m. April 15. As of yet, no air date has been scheduled in Madison.

Thirty to 50 students attend Pearson's popular MATC course, "Relationship Skills/Loving Well," taught three times a year. The course, which will be offered again in Spring 2003, takes a skills-based approach to fostering lasting relationships. The core of her class material comes from a research-based relationship skills program developed in Denver known as PREP or the Prevention and Relationship Education Program.

Pearson came to the attention of the PBS program's producers, Boyer Productions and the University of Chicago's Religion, Culture and Family Project, when they heard about her work adapting PREP, initially designed for engaged or newly married couples, to other committed couples, young single parents and teens.

"I thought this material, which comes about as close as we've come to a 'Relationships 101' course, was too good to just limit to engaged or married couples. It is the kind of information that is vital in helping lots of people-single, dating, divorced, gay or straight, single parents-become more skilled about their intimate relationships.

"Much like the parenting skills movement of recent years, researchers are taking a look at the value of teaching relationship skills to young people," says Pearson. "Twenty-five years ago, we thought all it took to be a good parent was love, but research showed it takes good parenting skills and some rudimentary knowledge of child development as well.
"The data reveals 70 percent of marriages fail not because of alcohol or domestic violence, but through an erosion process that has two dimensions: one a buildup of negative interactions as couples deal with more and more of life's issues and, two, a failure to nurture their connection. We look at what commonly happens to friendship, emotional connection, communication and sexuality over time. Students learn skills to improve communication and to exit out of negative patterns, as well as strategies for keeping the good things alive. Overall, it helps people focus on what's important in maintaining and enhancing relationships."

Students from a wide range of backgrounds and ages take the course, Pearson says. She's found the class attracts students in a variety of relationships including a fair number of young singles. Pearson says the action oriented, skills based approach appeals more to male participants than do traditional therapy courses.

"I've also found a full half the skills learned in this class apply to other types of relationships. I had one student who told me she used a lot of what she learned in her relationship with her daughter."

Pearson has been teaching the MATC class for four years and has conducted PREP workshops for the college's counseling staff as well as counselors and teachers from the Wisconsin public schools, the Wisconsin Technical College System, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections juvenile treatment staff and a variety of community based organizations working with teens. She also has taken her course on the road, teaching public health officials, social workers and university extension agents in Oklahoma.

Her booklet, Can Kids Get Smart About Marriage, published by Rutgers Press, is a review of national marriage and relationship education programs for teens and young adults.

"This course has been a joy to teach," Pearson says. "It's exciting to be on the frontier of relationship education. I anticipate one day relationship courses will be as standard as child birthing and child development classes are now."

One of the largest of the Wisconsin Technical College System's 16 colleges, MATC provides a comprehensive curriculum of technical, liberal arts and science, adult basic education and life enrichment studies and activities, as well as customized employee training. With training in more than 100 career programs, the college awards associate degrees, vocational diplomas and certificates, and offers non-degree courses. MATC serves all or parts of 12 counties located in south-central Wisconsin and offers instruction through five campuses and other locations throughout the district.