What did you expect from our Western society, a world where money & ego are the only things that count.
Absolutely.
Anyway, your education is far more important than your dumb teenage sweetheart: she should have stayed home and have an education too.
Yes, if there is any hope for Western society types, they must make this mistake, learn from it and then try to mend their lives. But no she would not have learned this lesson by staying home and getting an education. Exactly as the mc has not learned/is not learning it. Sorry to say, Zoey has not hitched her wagon to a promising future. That will be the next lesson in maybe 5/10 years or so.
The funny thing is that first kiss, first love are the ones that people tend to remember and regret. And if they manage to endure, they can be the best choice ever in my experience.
I came across a story one time where a young girl refuses sex with boyfriend who soon vanishes from the scene. She asks he mother if she made the right choice. She says, "I can tell you as a mother that you made the right choice. But as a woman, I can tell you that you have missed an experience you would have cherished the rest of your life. You will never get a chance again for something like it." There you go, that is what matters. Maybe you will be a brain surgeon someday, my dear, but so what. The thing that matters is who hugs you when you come home.