Hi, I noticed that for both sides, a good pay and enrichment are necessary factors in defining a "good job."  One difference, however was that there were a number of responses from American students saying that societal contribution is important, while there were no such responses from French students.  How do you perceive this? 

Along the same line, the French responses to the word association and to some of the other phrases seemend to emphasize the importance of the community and a sense of global awareness that was not necessarily exhibited in the American responses. I'm curious about why this didn't come up in the French responses to "A good job..." but was referenced in the American responses, e.g. "benefits others", "contribute to society". Why do you think this is? I got the impression that, in general, work is something that you see as a necessity for financial and social stability rather than as an opportunity to serve the community. Do you think that this is a valid conclusion?

Je suis surtout surprise par le fait que certains d'entre vous parlent de "challenging" et de "hard work" alors que nous les français nous parlons plutôt d'enrichissement. Je crois qu'on n'a pas envie (surtout a notre niveau) d'avoir un travail qui ne nous palît pas aussi parce que le fait de faire autant d'études devrait nous donner le droit de faire quelque chose que l'on aime et pas un travail pour manger. Je ne sais pas trop vous répondre, on a très envie que le travail nous apporte quelque chose, pour ce qui est d'apporter quelque chose à la société, je ne sais pas, peut être par rapport à la religion qui est sûrement moins présente chez nous. si les français ont quelque chose à dire à ce propos?

At MIT, it's encouraged that we make an important discovery or change the world in some way. A lot of students here are not religious at all. I feel that in society, people are only religious when we're debating laws, not necessarily when living day to day. Do French people think of the US as very religious, and why?

I'm generalizing a little here, but I think that the Americans' desire for a job that is "challenging" or "hard work" speaks more to the fact that we want to do something that is stimulating or enriching and that isn't boring - associations that appeared on the French side.

In the US, there is substantial pressure to find jobs that are often so challenging that they are not enjoyable. For example, I-banking (investment banking) basically takes up your life; you spend so many hours at the office and sleep very little. While some people enjoy the profession, other people do it as a way to slowly move up the rankings or to make good money. Personally, I would love to have a job that I enjoy all the time but unfortunately, the societal pressures to overexert yourself in your work tends to dictate your profession. I also think it's more common at MIT, compared to other areas of the US, to feel as though you need to make good money and work super hard all the time or else you have "wasted" your education at MIT. As a result, it is extremely difficult to find a job that you enjoy and that keeps you busy.

Pour ma part lorsque j'ai répondu "faire quelque chose qu'on aime" à propos du travail j'ai également voulu exprimer le fait de vouloir servir  dans la société. Concernant la "religiosité" les américains ne sont peut-être pas religieux mais ils semblent qu'ils aient une culture religieuse. En France beaucoup de gens n'ont jamais mis les pieds dans une église excepté pour aller à un mariage ou à un enterrement.

One interesting thing I saw was that the French notion of "work" in the word associations and the notion of "a good job" were pretty much similar.  For the Americans, however, the word "work" in the word associations provoked quite a bit of negativity, quite different from our idea of "a good job."