by jraynal, March 7, 2014, 9:03 AM
Les français semblent moins préoccupés par leur avenir post-école que les Américains qui se soucient de la tournure que vas prendre leur vie. En revanche, les français semblent plus enclins à se soucier de leur pays et de la géopolitique. De plus, la teneur des réponses du côté français laisse à penser que nous sommes plus nonchalants vis à vis de nos études. Je pense que c’est parce que nous n’avons quasiment pas de frais d’inscritpions. Ce qui diminue la pression due à notre niveau d’étude. Qu’en pensez-vous?

by esparrs, March 7, 2014, 3:02 PM
I definitely agree that you can see a difference. It seems like all Americans are worried about their future and their lives specifically. The French seem split: some are more preoccupied with their future while others are worried about country and the general future of the world. I think this sheds a bit of light on how we may differ in thinking – especially in our every day lives.

by Sarah W, March 10, 2014, 12:38 AM
I find it interesting that Americans don’t really seem to worry about their daily lives, but worry tremendously about the future and being happy. I think it is common for us to just be planning for the future, waiting until the day when we finally reach the goal, that we can never enjoy the current moment. In contrast, while the French students did worry about work and the future, their worries were much more diverse. Some worried about the world/environment/politics, others worried about current homework assignments and things to do, and still others worried about their families and those closest to them. The French students are not as obsessively worried about their own futures as the American students. It makes us Americans seem very self-centered!

by jbrown138, March 10, 2014, 4:01 AM
I’m not surprised to see such a difference in our worries. Americans are too worried with their day to day lives to think about the “bigger picture.” This is reflected both in our politics at large and our personal studies. We are taught froma young age that you have to constantly work to get what you want in life. Unfortunately(?), we are also taught to dream big, so when reality starts to settle in (like you don’t get your dream internship or you begin to realize you can’t win five nobel prizes or that you probably won’t be the next Steve Jobs), it’s more than a little irking. We are taught to expect from ourselves more than that which is realistic. Ultimately, this leaves us kind of self-centered when it comes to our problems because we *must* focus on them, for if we don’t, we’ll feel as if we’re life failures for being contented with our current lives. Trying to be better than that which we are is an everyday stressor. We can never be content. For example, we survived high school, managed to get into MIT, a great university, yet here we are freaking out about getting a job? It doesn’t make sense; whether we make 75k or a million a year should not matter but it does because if we don’t strive for better and if we don’t force ourselves to be stressed out, we feel inadequate. It seems as if the French have gotten past this little philosophical treatise; you seem mostly content with yourselves – or at least confident enough that it allows you to focus on the bigger picture: serving your country, the environment, and the people of the world at large. The problems of now may not escape your mind, but it is amicable that they do not occupy the forefront all the time. Would you agree with this? That your own satisfaction with yourselves and your current lives enables you to focus on other issues?

by Rachel A, March 10, 2014, 4:40 AM
@jraynal
If I understand you correctly you’re asking if we think the cost of university heightens the pressure of school for us compared to your relatively low fees. I think it’s more social pressure than constantly thinking about the investment/expense of school (although that plays a part) – it may vary for people. But at MIT there’s a lot of the pressure of the school’s reputation, and classmates who seem to be doing much better than you.

I noticed there are a few comments on the American side about ending up alone but I don’t see that at all on the French side. Why do you think this is so? Are marriage/partner relations taken for granted (not necessarily in a negative sense)?

by dengxinyue0420, March 10, 2014, 2:42 PM
The comments are really interesting. Students from both country are worried about their future, but in different ways. French only mention the word, but Americans say a lot. It seems like French are worried about the quality of their future, like how well they will live, but American are worried about they are not smart enough or good enough to achieve anything. It gives me the feeling that students in MIT are very upset if they are just ordinary people in their life, and they want to be successful. It is interesting that French mention about the crisis, environment and politics, but Americans mention nothing about that. However, there are Americans who are worried about ending up alone in the future. I don’t know how this comes from, but clearly French don’t have such concern.

by jfrancoisgaleazzi, March 11, 2014, 3:48 PM
Comme vous avez pu tous le résumer parfaitement, il semble que la réussite ou non des études pour les étudiants américains reste la principale source de préoccupation. Et visiblement, ce futur, cette réussite ne dépend que de vous, et non de ce qui pourrait se passer dans le monde qui nous entoure. Du côté français, il y a des étudiants qui se préoccupent de leur pays et de la géopolitique ne veut pas dire que la réussite de leur études n’est pas un objectif. Mais cette réussite reste néanmoins lié au futur du pays etc… et ne se résume pas à notre capacité de travailler et d’apprendre.
Les événements qui se déroulent actuellement en Europe et plus particulièrement en Ukraine, ne prouvent-elles pas qu’il ne faut rien prendre pour acquis ? Et s’intéresser au monde qui nous entoure ?

by wandujar, March 11, 2014, 3:54 PM
Je suis d’accord avec toi @jfrancoisgaleazzi, le contexte géopolitique et économique est important car c’est lui qui, en définitive, définira nos conditions de vie et de travail plus tard. On ne peut pas se restreindre à soi-même quand on parle de grandes inquiétudes, elles doivent être vues à grande échelle. Nous ne sommes pas à l’abri d’un imprévu qui puisse changer la face de la France ou des Etats-Unis à tout moment. Suite aux attentats du 11 Septembre 2001, la plus grande inquiétude était le terrorisme, à présent les moeurs ont évolué et les inquiétudes évoluent par la même occasion. Ce serait interessant d’avoir votre avis en tant qu’Americain sur ce qui se passe en Crimée à l’heure actuelle comme le soulève le précédent commentaire. Comment voyez-vous le conflit depuis l’autre côté de l’Atlantique ?

by sgtdede, MarchH 11, 2014, 3:56 PM
Des deux côtés, les réponses sont souvent orientés vers des idéaux et des ambitions pour le futur. Néanmoins côté français, j’ai l’impression la question a souvent été comprise en terme de préoccupations dans l’immédiat, les obligations et les choses qui viennent à l’esprit en ce moment. Alors que les réponses américaines sont plus lointaines et orientées vers le futur.

by xmaillard, March 11, 2014, 4:02 PM
Je pense qu’on peut également mettre l’état d’un pays en relation avec notre propre réussite. Je pense que le travail est également une préoccupation en France même si nous semblons parler plus du pays en lui même. Le soucis principal étant qu’un dîplome ne donne pas un accès direct à un travail, il faut aussi qu’il y ait des emplois dans le pays. Les français pensent peut être à l’expatriation comme une contrainte par exemple, il est donc naturel d’espérer que le pays aille mieux.

Il est vrai qu’on ne parle pas du tout de notre vie sociale en France, peut-être n’y voit on pas de réelle contrainte, ou que les français se posent se genre de questions plus tard.
Les américains et les français se mettent-ils en ménage vers le même âge ?

by esagardia, March 11, 2014, 4:03 PM
Je pense qu’il est également intéressant de remarquer qu’au delà de la différence entre nos préoccupations futures, certains se penchent davantage sur le présent, le moment actuel sans jamais parler de futur.

by ahonorat, March 11, 2014, 8:39 PM
Comment faut-il interpréter la phrase “is not being good enough” ?
S’il s’agit du fait d’être bon dans les études, alors cela rentre dans ce qui a déjà été dit.
En revanche s’il s’agit d’être bon avec les autres, d’être une personne généreuse, attentionée ou bienveillante, il faut remarquer que personne d’autre (ni du côté américain, ni du côté français) ne l’a dit !
Nous avons tous répondu un peu égoïstement de ce point de vue là :) (certains ont toutefois parlé du bonheur de leur famille).

by megania2014, March 12, 2014, 6:12 PM
@jfrancoisgaleazzi, wandujar
Personally, I don’t have a very good opinion yet of the events in Crimea – on one hand, Crimea has a large Russian population, and I disagree with Ukraine’s decision to declare that only Ukranian could be spoken there. On the other hand, I definitely disagree with Russia’s decision to invade Crimea, and with the attack on protesters in February that seems to have started this whole thing. Unfortunately, I don’t think I know enough about the history of the area to have a more solid opinion.
I think the reason that Americans listed other concerns about their future, and not concerns about current events such as those happening in Ukraine, is that all of the events happening there seem very far away and separate from us. It is all too easy to forget about these events and focus on things that feel closer, like what job we will get after school.
I would be interested to hear your opinion as well – what do you guys think about the events in Ukraine?

by jbrown138, March 12, 2014, 9:12 PM
As a brief response to jfrancoisgaleazzi, I have been keeping up with the events leading up to the invasion of Crimea on Ukraine for the past few months and even have a decent knowledge of the history of the area. With this all in mind, I know that what Russia is doing is not good but neither is immense Western intervention. It’s a bad place for Ukraine to be in right now…
I like to think of myself as pretty well-informed in regards to what’s going on in the world – I read the news waaaaaay too much everyday and even read other newspapers of different countries for comparison (thank you google translate!). The thing is, I’m the only American I know who does this. I have friends who skim the news once in a while or read The Onion ( a satirical (joke) newspaper) and will then research the references, but the thing is, is that we feel we have far too many of our own problems to worry about others. It kind of even explains why many Americans don’t want universal healthcare (because they believe the government is stealing from them to help other people they don’t care about). I’m sure more MIT students would read the news if they had time, but then again, I’ve had plenty of friends (here at MIT and back home) tell me, quite frankly, they really couldn’t care less. I think it’s because here in America, we get so caught up in our daily lives – the good and the bad – that we almost “don’t have the time” to worry about the rest of the world. It’s pretty tragic in my opinion. Not only does it feel like we don’t have enough time but that we cannot get a handle on our own lives well enough to worry about others’ (except for perhaps those within our immediate family and friend circles).
xmaillard, you bring up a very interesting question! I’ve actually seen a few articles lately about how the current young generation (of people in their 20s and 30s) has an extremely low marriage rate (here’s an article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/11/millennials-marriage-age_n_4944...).
Personally, I fear for the world everyday. But I also worry about my grades, friends, financial security, and general happiness everyday too. So even though I want to do my personal best to help this world, I know that for now, I can only try to take care of the issues that plague me at the moment, making them my biggest (most pressing) worries.

by Sarah W, March 13, 2014, 7:01 AM
I agree that Americans tend to not worry about what’s going on in the world around us/the big picture. We don’t personally feel or understand what is going wrong in the world, and so we don’t worry about it. It’s really easy to get sucked in to all the schoolwork we have; which is unfortunate, because I do wish I understood better what’s going on in the rest of the world. I think Americans just feel safe in America, we know everything is going to be okay. I don’t think we really have to worry about freedom and liberty, it’s just assumed we’ll always have it. Looking back at some of your replies, it seems that some of you might be concerned about your liberties being taken away from you?

by Rachel A, March 13, 2014, 7:29 AM
I think Americans start going out fairly early, like definitely by high school there’s quite a few couples. (Turning 16 and being able to drive helps it along). But like the article jbrown referenced said, people are settling down and marrying later than they used to. How does this compare in France?

by mpeysale, March 16, 2014, 2:51 PM
@Rachel C’est à peu près la même situation en France.
Concernant l’âge du mariage, cela dépend aussi beaucoup du niveau d’études : certains de mes amis n’ayant pas fait d’études sont déjà mariés et ont un enfant car ils ont commencé à travailler tôt et ont donc eu une situation stable assez tôt. Au contraire, en faisant des études longues, on retarde ce moment à partir duquel on est capable de s’assumer financièrement et de faire des projets sur le long terme

by astralien3000, March 18, 2014, 3:14 PM
L’état d’esprit des américains du MIT peut faire penser à l’état d’esprit des français qui sont en Prépa (on en a déjà parlé dans un autre sujet). En prépa, l’avenir est incertain, on se remet toujours en question nos capacités, notre motivation à aller jusqu’au bout. Alors qu’une fois en école d’ingénieur, le reste des études est plus sûr. Même si on est pas assuré d’avoir du travail après, cela reste beaucoup plus facile que dans d’autres parcours.

Pour moi, c’est une des raison qui fait que le côté français cite beaucoup moins ce problème. La “pression” au MIT reste forte jusqu’à la fin des études ?

by kelex33, March 18, 2014, 3:43 PM
@megania2014
Je ne pense pas parler au nom de tout les français, mais pour ma part je trouve la situation en Crimée très préoccupante. Peut-être est-ce dû à la relative proximité de l’événement par rapport à la France, peut être aussi est-ce dû à l’importance de la converture médiatique ici sur ce sujet.

Quant au fait d’être préoccupé par ce genre d’événements, je ne pense pas non plus que le fait d’être français ou américain y change beaucoup. Le fait de s’intéresser à l’actualité découle plus, je pense, de l’influence familiale (ou autre) que l’a subi au cours de notre éducation.