Pour les élèves des deux écoles, les mêmes idées reviennent. Un bon parent en règle générale est quelqu’un qui aime, prends soin et veut le meilleur pour son enfant, donc le supporte dans ses choix, et fait tout pour qu’il devienne la meilleure version de lui même.

Je pense que sur ce point on est tous d’accord :)

Yes I would agree with Alex in that a good parent is the same in both places and possess the same qualities.

I agree with all, the responses are very similar. Common responses include loves, cares, listens, understands, and supports. Are these universal truths or does this vary between race, socio-economic status, etc?

I’m a little surprised that the responses match almost one-to-one. Notion of good parenting is not very different in France and in the U. S. A lot of people in both sides mentioned love, listening, caring, taking care of children, protection, etc. I wonder if the notion of good parenting would be different in non-western cultures. I’m also curious whether the similarity of perspectives is also due to the similarity in our ages. Would the results be different if parents/adults were surveyed?

Like Sule, I am also curious to know how different cultures would answer to this survey, non-western cultures to be precise. While parenting in the US and France seems to be very similar given the almost identical responses from both MIT and ENSEIRB, parenting does vary across cultures and of course, there are exceptions to the norms.

I think the biggest thing that I am curious is what the common level of strictness is. I think MIT students would tend towards parents who are not “hover-parents”, so probably more lax parenting. But what is it like in France?

Though the answers are very similar, I noticed that one person from ENSEIRB mentioned that a good parent is one who educates his/her children. This seemed to parallel one of the answers in the section “a well-behaved child…”, in which someone from ENSEIRB also mentioned that a child well-raised is one who is educated. Although I’m not sure of what “educated” necessarily entails in this context, I wonder if this small discrepancy points to a cultural difference. In the U. S., I noticed that parents often expect teachers to be the primary educators in both academic and social subjects alike. I wonder if, in other cultures, there is more of an emphasis on parental education, as well as the idea of “it takes a village,” as compared to American culture.

I thought it was interesting that with MIT students, no one mentioned punishment, while on the ENSEIRB side two people mentioned sanctionner. Both sides talk about being firm with the children but only the ENSEIRB students mention punishment. Why is that so?

I agree with the notion that responses on both sides are very similar, but one thing I noticed that I think is worth pointing out is the response of sacrifice on the ENSEIRB side. This may be reflective of a cultural difference similar or related to the US’s emphasis on individualism where perhaps even in a parental relationship, it is not expected for one to sacrifice their individuality and freedoms as a person for anybody else, or at least it’s not a thought at the front of people’s minds. What do American students think? Also, for ENSEIRB students: to what extent do you feel that parents are expected to sacrifice for their children?

I also agree that the responses on both sides are very similar, as one might expect given that all the respondents are college students are from Western countries. Both sides seem to think that the most important part of being a good parent is loving one’s child, and supporting them. I’m also curious whether parenting styles are different in France than the US (as a somewhat superficial example, in the US, many parents schedule their children in lots of activities, and there has been a rise in “helicopter parenting”). Is this trend also true of France?