I noticed that the American students often said that the French need to work more, while the French students say that France has money problems. Do you think that if the workday was longer or vacations were shorter, would the money problems be fixed? Do you think this is what is needed to fix the French economy?

You talk a lot about the need to have a good image in other countries.  Do you feel you need to maintain your good image, or improve it?

Je ne pense pas que le temps de travail soit le problème à la base de notre économie, c'est même sur que ce n'est pas un problème. De plus il a été prouvé à de multiple reprise, que même si la France est l'un des pays ou le temps de travail est le plus bas, il est aussi un des pays ou la productivité est la meilleur.

Peut-être que du que parce que vous travaillez énormément vous voyez le fait que nous ne travaillons que 35h par semaine d'un mauvais oeil. Est ce le cas? Ceci expliquerait pourquoi vous avez beaucoup parlé de cet aspect.

Pour ce qui est de l'image de la France à l'étranger, je pense que c'est déjà bien de maintenir son image sans la dégrader davantage. Mais il est sure que montrer la France sous un meilleur jour serait beaucoup mieux. Pour ma part, je dirais qu'il faut l'améliorer, mais je pense que c'est ce que désire chaque pays. Il n'est jamais bon de se montrer sous un mauvais jour.

There seems to be a fairly large demand for change, something new. What are some specific examples of things that French people are dissatisfied about their country?

I believe that many Americans look down upon the shorter work weeks and extended vacations as being lazy. Some people would probably say they don't think that they could complete their work in a 35 hour week. There are many Americans that never take vacations and end up working 50 hours a week. I do not necessarily believe this is a good thing, but it is a fact of life in corporate America.

En france on a 20% de personne qui font les 35 heures sur ces 20 % la, il y en a beaucoup qui en font beaucoup plus. La majorité des étudiants de notre promo on des parents qui doivent atteindre les 50h par semaine voir beaucoup plus certaine semaine.

Le probléme je pense c'est que la vie devient de plus en plus chére et que les salaire n'augmente pas. Vous en pensez quoi?

Benji, I think that in the US, in some places, the "cost of living" is more expensive but salaries do not go up. However, the cost of living varies alot in different regions of the country. For example, it is very expensive to live in New York, but it is not very expensive to live in the rural towns in Illinois. Therefore, people can choose whether they prefer to live in a less expensive place and save more money, or live in an expensive area.

Does this choice exist in France? Or is the cost of living similar in most parts of the country?

Je voudrais tout d’abord confirmer ce qui a déjà été dit. Le fait de travailler 35 heures n’a aucun effet néfaste sur la productivité. De plus, travailler 50 heures ne garantit pas que l’on est productif ou actif durant ces 50 heures, on l’est peut juste 25 heures ou moins.

Comme aux Etats Unis, on peut noter une différence de coût de vie  selon les villes. Comme vous pouvez vous en douter la vie est nettement plus chère à paris que dans les autres villes. Plus la ville est considérer comme une grande ville, plus la vie est chère.  A mon avis ce constat est le même dans toutes les villes du monde.

I agree with some of the things that the French students have said. I think it is very much a cultural phenomena rather than a response to high salary that people work more here. I think the idea behind this is that if everyone pulls overtime and you don't then you will fall behind. I think the French have taken a great deal of precautions to protect that from happening such as instating the 35hr rule.

I worked doing research in Paris the summer before last. In the US I am used to going into lab at night (for example, at midnight after I finished my work) and during weekends and it was very much a normal thing. However, when I tried to go into lab on a saturday in Paris, the school was closed! And one time I stayed after 10 PM and the security guard was shocked to see me and had to warn my supervisor to be aware and not let me do that. I think we take it for granted that people in the US think its very normal to work as much as they do.

In response to SAMBALA, whille I agree that after 35 hours you get less productive, I still think that working longer hours will create better productivity. For example, if you work 50 hours, even if the effectiveness after 35 hours is very low such as 50%, you would still get 7.5 hours of productivity out of the 15 extra hours. That gives you a 42.5 hours of total productivity. If people were competing and everyone did 35 hours of work, the extra 7.5 hours is what gives you an edge. It's what separates those who are great at what they do from those who aren't.

So my question is, I feel that the French don't see it the same way. That must be true for them to instate the 35 hour rule in the first place. What do you think about the analysis I made above? Do you agree/ disagree?

@Amy

I find your claim that "It's what separates those who are great at what they do from those who aren't." somewhat distrurbing. Does working (unreasonably?) long hours really make you better at something? I think it only shows dedication, which might or might not be good, but promoting it as something good (which makes people strive for it and stay at work far too long) is a rather dangerous thing to do.

While I agree with most of Amy's analysis, I think that Americans take it to the extreme. People are choosing to push themselves in order to get ahead of the competition and in so doing, create a new standard for everyone else. 

It also depends on what industry you work in. If you really want to become a corporate lawyer, you have to be prepared to work extremely long hours most of the days of a month. In America at least, this has become a fact of life. 

@ yelle,

I agree it's dangerous because it creates stronger competition and pushes people to work longer and harder to stay competitive. At the same time, I don't agree with your analysis that it doesn't make people better at something. I think if the same person were to work longer (and actually work, not work for face time) it necessarily will make the person more efficient than if he works less hours. I know that between people one person might be generally more effective than others but then if we are comparing the same person I necessarily think that working more would give you more time to practice at something and more time to hone your skills.

At professional levels where most people are at the same talent level, working harder than everyone else will be the determining factor for who does best in the end.

To continue on that, I don't think we can discredit that working more would create better product. I think the question, really, is how much sacrifice (in terms of leisure time, family time) is worth the extra output.

This topic also makes me think of a major debate at MIT that may also be a problem for students in France. When you are working past, say 2 am at MIT, and you still have work to do, is it worth keeping working with sub-par results or stopping and taking the bad grade? Do you ever have these kinds of problems? And what would you do in this situation?

@Amber

Moi je pense qu'il faut terminer le travail ou au moins faire une partie du travail correctement. Et c'est ce que je fais quand je suis confronté à cette situation.

Je pense comme mehdi, il faut terminer son travail ou du moins  faire le nécessaire. Mais il est vrai que defois on essaie de faire des compromis et d'accorder plus d'importance à certains matières qu'à d'autres ou l'on accepte d'avoir une mauvaise note parce que l'on a pas trop le choix ou le temps. Cependant, le but final est tout de même que malgré ces compromis la note finale soit la meilleure possible.