Il est intéressant de remarquer que du côté français, on voit revenir plusieurs fois que pour être un bon élève, il faut être présent en cours. En revanche ce critère n’est pas revenu une seul fois du côté américain. Cela signifie simplement qu’en France, l’absentéisme est beaucoup plus important qu’au USA, car on constate qu’ils n’y ont même pas pensé.

That is an interesting comment I think on the MIT side there is more about being accepting rather than being a good student. I think being a good student is important in the USA however I think it probably comes after acceptance for most parents.

The responses from the two sides seem be relatively similar with emphasis on working and studying hard. There are some mentions of academic success like getting good grades, but these kinds of responses are not overwhelming. The similarity may come from the fact that the responses are coming from similar age groups who attend similar institutions, therefore having similar academic backgrounds?

I agree with Pierre that the ENSEIRB students attach more importance to going to class than MIT students. I wonder then, do ENSEIRB students frequently skip class? On the MIT side, not going to class has more to do with whether or not you can learn the material adequately outside of class.

Going off of Pierre and Jess’s comments, at MIT professors often post lecture notes, textbook pages, and other resources online to help students self-study. Furthermore, from my experience, professors do not record attendance or note participation because lectures are so large. Are class sizes smaller in ENSEIRB and is that why ENSEIRB students value attendance more?

I would agree with Jess that at MIT, when deciding whether to skip a class or not, we take into consideration the materials that are available to us outside of class. We ask ourselves: will I be able to learn this material on my own?, will I actually take the time to learn it on my own?, is this class taking attendance?… at ENSEIRB, are the class materials and lectures also available online? And to all the classes take attendance?

I absolutely agree with Jasmin about online materials. MIT students’ responses include the word “hard” in general like “trying hard,” “working hard”, “doing their best”, etc. I think this is an example of the “work hard” mind set of Americans. I also observe that some ENSEIRB students mentioned “respect” for deadlines, professors, etc. This is another example of how “respect” is really important for French in all parts of life.

Like yoshihiro said, good grades were not a large priority for both sides. Maybe this is an indication that being a good student is somewhat universally viewed as being more related to one’s attitude than one’s performance. There were many more responses about working hard, wanting to learn the material, and studying than getting good grades or even passing a class. It makes sense in a way – if a class is graded accurately, students with a good attitude and good habits should naturally get good grades.

I agree with the points mentioned above, particularly in that good grades seem trivial compared to one’s attitude about studying. In particular, MIT students seem to stress the importance of trying, possibly due to the intense academic environment present. As mentioned by sule, respect is also heavily emphasized by students of ENSEIRB, whereas in the U. S., respect is not often what comes to mind first with mention of a good student.

Adding on the sule’s observation about respect, I think that MIT students may not have mentioned it as much because here the emphasis is on performing. When we say someone is a good student we mean someone who studies hard and receives good grades, not someone who is respectful. This may be somewhat unique to MIT with all of the pressure to succeed academically.

Pour répondre au commentaire de acfiallo, à l’Enseirb, nous disposons d’une plateforme en ligne nous permettant d’avoir certains documents en lien avec certains cours. Nous devons cependant aller en cours si nous souhaitons avoir une formation complète. La plateforme en ligne n’est qu’un support permettant de partager des documents annexes.

Pour répondre en effet, il semble que pour les deux groupes d’étudiant les notes ne prennent pas une place importante dans le fait d’être un bon étudiant, selon c’est simplement car la majorité des élèves en école d’ingénieurs obtiennent des notes correctes et n’ont pas se soucié de celles ci dans leur cursus. Mais plus des choses apprises. Et comme dit plus haut on s’attache surtout à travailler de manière intense afin d’obtenir plus que de bon résultats.

Pour moi un bon étudiant est un étudiant qui respecte d’abord ses enseignants car ils ont la lourde tâche de nous former et de nous transmettre un savoir important pour la suite de notre vie. Et je pense qu’ils méritent plus d’attention dans notre société.