For American students school is a wider concept: it includes both high school and university. There are also some phenomena which exist in Russia and don't exist in the US and vice versa.

I found the association with the September 1 to be most interesting, mostly because I think such ties don't exist as strongly in the minds of American students. Perhaps in Russia there is just more of a 'to-do' when children start and end school than in the US.

I thought it was interesting that the American answers contained more associations with the social life that comes with education than did the Russian answers.  This probably relates back to Irina's concept that we think of "school" as including the years through college.

I found it interesting that so many of the American students mentioned homework, but the Russian students did not mention it at all. It makes me wonder whether Russian primary education puts less emphasis on daily written homework and perhaps more emphasis on in-class work and exams.

I thought it was interesting how many of the American students mentioned the name of their university, Brown, as one of the first associations with the word "school."  Again, this is because "school" is a more encompassing word in English/America, and our current and most relevant reality of school is our university studies at Brown. In comparison, the Russian students mentioned the more academic and studying aspect of school - I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that this is a part of their past and is a slightly more distanced aspect of their life.

I felt like the many of the Russian students' answers were more generic. For instance, many listed "studying" as their association for school. The American students listed more specific associations, like homework, friends, etc. This probably related to what Daniel said, that there is probably a bigger emphasis on in-class work and the process of learning in school in Russia.

I was intrigued by the fact that our answers included "yard" and "asphalt", rather tangible things, as opposed to the more abstract words named by our Russian counterparts like "studying" and "nerves". Perhaps we feel a greater physical connection with the schools we've been to, because we spend so much time living in them?

I think the associations of the American students were broader because the idea of school is more general (includes university). However, the Russian students seemed to identify school for the most part only with scholastic endeavours, as apposed to our associations with friends and outside activities. The idea of September 1st is an interesting association, especially since school in the US starts on such different dates for different schools. As a side point, what happens in Russia when September 1st is on a weekend?

I also thought the difference between Russian and American students was striking in the emphasis on work as opposed to social life. Although our primary schooling experiences were probably really similar in homework/social ratio, because we also identify college as school - and because, for us, college is immersive, with learning, work, social activity, etc., all in the same place - we might be more likely to identify social aspects of school right away.

I thought it was interesting that the American students mostly associated the word "school" with individual fragments of school life (books, etc.), while the Russian students seemed to make more holistic associations with studies/education in general.

I thought it was interesting how Russian students mostly associated "school" with "studying," while American students thought of school as a more social concept, as they included words such as "friends" in their responses.

I thought it was interesting that some Brown students associated the word school with Brown University itself, whereas the Russian students did not associate it with their specific school.

Любопытно, что американские студенты в основном писали о частных аспектах обучения, в то время как русские студенты писали об общей идее школы - то бишь получении знаний, учебе, образовании.

Удивительно, что никто из русских студентов не упомянул о домашней работе, так как нам всегда очень много задавали.

И 1 сентября у нас всегда проводилась линейка, независимо от того, какой это день недели.

Как мне показалось, различия между ответами российских студентов и амеркиканских не велики. Разве что у российский студентов почему то ничего нету о домашней работе, хотя я думаю что им задают не меньше, чем американцам. Очень интересно, что у одного из американских студентов школа ассоциируется с асфальтом.))

Мне кажется, в этом контексте слово "school" сопоставимо и эквивалентно русскому "учеба",  - более широкому понятию, чем просто "школа" в русском.

Очень порадовала у одного Американского студента ассоциация школы с асфальтом =)

Любопытно, что говоря о школе американцы подразумевают и сам университет Браун. В то время, как для русских это два абсолютно разных понятия. Школа у нас-это заведение, где мы получаем среднее образование. Это лишь ступень к высшему образованию в университете. У американцев же эти понятия взаимосвязаны.

Очень интересно то,что многие американские студенты ассоциируют школу именно с Брауновским университетом.У русских студентвов слово "школа" обычно не связывается с каким-то местом.Для нас это определённый период жизни. Например,мы можем сказать "во времена школы..." и это будет значить,что мы имеем ввиду конкретный возраст.А если точнее, то обычно это с 6-7 лет до 16-17.

Да...всё же мы чем-то отличаемся. Американские студенты, судя по их ответам, активно участвовали в какой-то социальной, общественной жизни, в то время. как у русских одна учёба и нервы, да уж...И ещё, удивило то, что вами были упомянуты professors и late night conversations, но насчёт друзей мы думаем одинаково, школьные друзья иногда на всю жизнь остаются increadibly close))

Да, я, пожалуй, тоже соглашусь со своими одногруппниками в том, что для русских людей "школа" - это отдельное заведение, где мы получили начальные знания по предметам, где у нас были друзья, прошло детство, а для американских студентов это общее понятие об учебе.

There seems to be a workmanlike attitude toward education in Russia - as in, I am doing this specifically for future career prospects. There is more of an idealistic "molding of the individual" in American systems of education, or at least there can be.

Наши ответы немного отличаются из-за разного понимания слова school. Для нас это общеобразовательное учреждение, для американцев это учеба. Меня удивило, что вы ассоциируете школу с общественной жизнью, в то время как русские студенты с одной учебой.

I thought it was interesting to see how the Russian students seemed to take a more strict approach to school and studying. I also liked the September 1st mention; having all schools start on one day sounds like a great idea!