The Gender Difference

I received a sneak peek of differences between the genders Thursday. It came in the middle of teaching a spelling lesson. It was one of those moments when you are teaching and you really wish there was another adult in the room to share the moment with you. My class and I were correcting the unit that they had just completed. One section was working on vocabulary and asked them to use the thesaurus in the back on the book to help them choose words that were more accurate and descriptive. There were eight sentences, and each sentence contained the word "smart" underlined. They were to choose another word from the box above the sentences to replace "smart" in each sentence. We were moving along very nicely until we came to this sentence: My friend Kate is very smart about people's inner feelings.

I called on a student and he responded, "Quick-witted."

I looked at him a little curiously and said, "No, that wouldn't really fit there."

I called on another student. She answered, "Insightful."

I responded that yes, that was the best choice for that sentence. Well, hands went up like crazy. It turns out that every single boy in that class chose quick-witted to replace smart when talking about someone's inner feelings. Every single girl chose insightful. I started to laugh. I said, "Guys it is someone's feelings. How can they be quick-witted about someone's feelings?" They looked at me like I was crazy.

Now I am not saying that this explains every difference that women and men might have in the art of communication, but it is pretty telling is it not?