I'm pretty interested in how this word is associated differently. As Americans, we often view that liberty is the ability to make choices for ourselves and express ourselves freely, but that our decisions carry a great weight. As a popular American saying goes, "with great power comes great responsibility." However, I found that the French answered focused mainly on rights, equality, and sacrifice. Perhaps it is because we take liberty for granted. How is liberty treated in France? Is it also taken for granted, or is it something that you feel must be fought for? Also, why do you associate "fraternity" with liberty? Thanks!

My perception is that the difference in answers points to Independence in America versus Brotherhood (fraternity) in France. It seems that the socialist views and the idea of looking out for each other in France rings true in these answers. In contrast, freedom in America mostly seems to correlate with being personally free.

It's arguable whether these differences are even bad though. There is an idea that these differences would make America more free because there would be less force in making it social. But then there is a [conflicting] idea that says that this would make France more of a liberal democracy and thus a more advanced version of society. 

Have any of you studied philosophy? Specifically, what about Rawls? Do you have some views on this in an abstract sense?

I believe that the answers from both American and French students were extremely identical.  The most common words from both sides were choice, equality, and rights.  This is not surprising to me, as I believe freedom is fundamentally perceived the same way throughout the world.  Both France and the United States have been free nations for a long time now and because of this, freedom has become an expected privilege.  Almost all of the words on both sides of the chart have positive connotations, showing that freedom is believed to be a good thing.

I too wonder about the association of brotherhood with liberty.  Is there any specific reason for this?

Je suis du côté de Michael Leaman personnellement quand il dit que nous avons la meme perception de la liberté.

Pour fraternité il faut savoir que la devise de la France est "liberté égalité fraternité" donc quand on entend "liberté" on pense tout de suite à "égalité fraternité" et à mon avis ceux qui ont mis "égalité, fraternité" comme réponse sont ceux qui n'ont pas cherché à définir liberté, mais simplement à écrire à quoi ça leur faisait penser ...

Pour moi il est clair que fraternité (et même égalité d'ailleurs) ne définit pas la liberté.

I also noticed some connotations of war and terrorism from the Americans' answers, such as the  World Trade Center, plane, war, etc, implying that maybe we see war sometimes as necessary in the pursuit of freedom for a country. I am curious to know what the French think about this notion.

I noticed the word police on the French side and thought it was interesting. I wonder how policemen are viewed in the French society in term of freedom. Are they those who limit people's freedom, or make sure everyone has their freedom, or something else? 

I second Tam's question.  It seems like the students at ENSAM are using the word "police" with a positive connotation.  That seems kind of surprising to me because I am always hearing about the constant strikes in France.  Are the strikes always peaceful?  The first thing that comes to mind for me when I think of French police are the strikes in May, 1968.  But that's probably just because that period has been romanticized in movies etc.