Both American and French responses indicate that respect and politeness are two important well-behaved children. I am curious as to whether you guys think children in France are well behaved in general? I know I find myself often thinking that kids in America are not very well behaved. They often start yelling and throwing temper tantrums in public as well as talking back to their parents. Is this sort of behavior prevalent in French children? Do you guys think that there is a difference between how children act now and how they acted when you were little?

The questions Rachael raises are quite interesting. At least in my case, I have found that small children tend to be loud and obnoxious no matter what part of the world you're in. :)

I would also like to point out an interesting difference between American and French responses. Almost all American students said a well-behaved child is one who listens to his parents an elders, without exception. However, some French students pointed out that a well-behaved child is curious, wise and who knows how to think and act by himself. Do you believe that parents should generally not try to impose many limits on their children's behavior? How do you teach a child the difference between being independent and doing something that is "wrong" by society's standards?

Je pense qu'il n'y a pa de différence entre la façon actuelle d'agir de quelqu'un et ses comportements étant petit. En effet nous reproduisons en général ce que nos parents nous ont inculqué lors de notre enfance. Nous avons tous des valeurs et des principes et à notre tour nous les tranmetrons à nos enfants. Je prend un exemple au hasard: une personne jette un mouchoir par terre. Un enfant a qui on a dit de ne pa le faire, attendra la prochaine poubelle pour jeter son mouuchoir. J'aimerai savoir si il en est de même aux Etas Unis?

I agree that parents tend to pass on their principles and values to their children, or at least they try to. I'm not sure that American children always hold steadfast to the values that their parents have taught them. Maybe when they're young, they do, but as they get older, Americans tend to make their own decisions about what principles they really value, and which ones they only hold onto in order to please their parents. In other words, Americans like to make their own decisions about what values and principles they live by.

As for the example you used with the person throwing the tissue on the ground. I think an obedient American child would throw his away in a trashcan, but many American children would simply copy the behavior of the person they saw throw it on the ground and throw theirs on the ground as well. If asked why, they would probably respond that they saw someone else do it, so they thought it would be okay.

But now, would there be a difference if the child was taught to clean up if others littered? I want to say that a child who was taught to not only throw their trash in the trashcan, but was taught to clean up for others would be more inclined to pick up the trash and throw it, along with their own trash, in the trashcan. If someone was just taught to throw their own trash away, then they would be more likely to be persuaded by someone else's actions to litter as well.

Certains peuvent ramasser les détritus des autres, d'autres ne jettront que les leurs et quelque uns n'hésitent pas a les jeter dans la nature sans scrupules. Je ne pense pas que les enfants copient sur leurs camarades dans la mesure où les parents sont derrière pour leurs dirent ce qu'ils doivent faire et dans quelle catégorie ils doivent se situer. Cepandant j'ai une question qui n'a pas du tout de rapport avec l'éducation des enfants. En France, les gens sont de plus en plus soucieux de l'état de la planète. Il n'est pas rare de voir des associations se regrouper pour néttoyer les plages, les forêts, les montagnes... De plus en plus de français font attention a leurs comportements vis à vis de la nature. Aujourd'hui une très grandes majorité de français trient leurs déchets (le verre, le plastique, le papier..). Chaque catégorie de déchet a sa poubelle. Est ce qu'au Etats Unis, l'écologie est quelque chose d'encrer dans les moeurs?