Asking the age-old questions

Christine Carrillo

So, if men are from Mars and women are from Venus, what does that

mean for their relationships with one another?

For the author of the book that declares this, John Gray, it means

a lot. To him, it answers many of the basic questions each gender has

about the other.

For John Webb’s senior communications class at Marina High School,

it’s not that simple.

In a class that incorporates a bit of psychology and interpersonal

and personal communications, students’ that elected to take the

course get the opportunity to delve into issues that have affected

men and women for years.

“How do you get a man to open up?” “Why does she always want to

talk about the relationship?” and “Why do [men and women] start

arguing about the littlest things?” were among the questions that

students mulled over, giggled at and ardently responded to.

“High school guys are more into sports and their friends ... but I

think what girls focus on in high school is guys and friends,”

18-year-old Kelsey Hudson said. “[A girl] wants a commitment from a

guy because she wants a hobby.”

While not all of her fellow females agreed, Hudson’s comment was

just one amid a sea of comments flowing from opinionated high school

seniors.

“Girls change their opinion everyday,” 17-year-old Travis Roseman

said. “I wish they’d have one view and that’s it.”

While Roseman was not alone in that opinion, he and many other

students tried to use the class to get some of their personal

gender-related questions answered.

When the seemingly eternal question, “How do I know what a woman

wants?” finally arose, Roseman was ready to be enlightened.

“She won’t tell you what she wants,” Hudson said.

“So, how do I know?” Roseman asked.

“She’ll give you clues,” Hudson replied. “It’s like a game.”

And the enlightenment slipped through his fingers.

As the students worked in four co-ed groups of seven, they

discussed answers to eight male- and eight female-related questions

they had for homework the night before. Each student sought answers

to questions about the mind-set of the opposite sex.

“It’s kind of whetting their appetite for a different point of

view,” said Webb, who has been teaching for more than 30 years.

“There is some hilarity to it, but beyond the hilarity, there’s a lot

of seriousness there.”