Bonjour à tous !

Ce qui me saute aux yeux, c'est que les étudiants du MIT ont peur de l'échec, je me demande de quel type d'échec il s'agit (professionnel, sentimental, les deux). Les étudiants de l'INT, quand ils en parlent, auraient plus peur de l'echec sentimental que professionnel. J'ai peut-être une explication : ayant intégré l'INT, nous savons tous que le plus dur est derrière nous en ce qui concerne les études et que normalement nous trouverons un bon job à la sortie. Les étudiants du MIT ont peut-être encore beaucoup de travail parce que la concurrence est grande et les places chères (je n'en sais rien en fait).

Sinon, il y a beaucoup de similitudes comme la mort et la maladie (5 du côté américain, 9 du côté français).

Enfin, certains étudiants du MIT semblent avoir peur des serpents, type de peur qui n'est pas relevée dans le questionnaire français. En revanche ce qui n'apparaät pas dans les réponses des étudiants du MIT, ce sont des craintes du type racisme, guerre... qui sont universelles et exprimées par quelques étudiants de l'INT. Avez-vous une explication ?

je remarque que contrairement a d autres questionnaires, les réponses des etudiants francais et americains sont assez proches les unes des autres. Nos plus grandes craintes sont d ordre personnel et sentimentales, ont redoute la solitude, la perte d un proche,ou de ne pas être aimer. Deux différences neammoins, les etudiants francais parlent plus souvent des grands problemes de sociéte a savoir, la guerre, la violence ou du racisme tandis que l idée d echouer-failing- que je comprend au sens professionel du terme, est assez presente chez de nombreux etudiants du MIT. Peut etre cela est il du au fait quepour eux, les etudes c est pas encore gagner tandis que nous une fois le concours d entrée réussi, les chances d échec scolaire sont assez faibles. De plus nos perspectives d emplois sont a l heure actuelle relativement bonnes ce qui n en fait pas un sujet de preoccupation majeur comme cela aurait pu etre le cas il y a quelques années en 95 ou en 96 quand les etudiants ne trouvaient pas de travail apres avoir terminer leurs etudes. Y a t il tant de serpents dans le Massachussets?? lol

un grand et cordial bonjour aux eleves du MIT

Il me semble que le MIT est une ecole tres prestigieuse aux Etats-Unis,pour pouvoir integrer cette ecole il faut surement travailler tres dur -je fais cette remarque preliminaire car il me semble que VOUS les eleves du MIT vous etes obsedes par l'echec -que ce soit l'echec scolaire,professionel ou meme familial.En fait il apparait clairement que beaucoup de vos craintes tournent autour de vous :est-ce que les EU sont un pays ou l'individualisme,forme intrinseque de liberte qui vous est chere,serait pousse a l'extreme et aboutirait a l'egocentrisme? -je pose cette question(il ne faut pas y voir une critique mais seulement une petite remarque ironique) car cette notion de reussite,d'echec ou d'accomplissemnt personnel bien qu'etant ancree dans la mentalite occidentale n'est pas une preoccupation majeure pour NOUS. Le point de plus grande divergence au niveau de ce questionnaire est sans aucun doute cette ouverture qu'ont les eleves de l'INT sur les problemes a l'echelle mondiale -les problemes de guerre mondiale,de misere,de pauvrete,de decadence de la societe,d'avenir de l'Afrique.... Neanmois il y a un grand nombre de points communs (ouf !! on est finalement pas si differents que ca).Notamment la peur de la maladie (est ce que la societe occidentale serait devenue hypocondriaque ?)pour soi comme pour ses amis proches.Cette affection que les eleves portent aux gens qui leur sont chers est commune aux ecoles (en fait on se rend compte qu'on est toujours tout seul au monde ...extrait d'une chanson francaise des annees 80- starmania qui a ete adaptee en anglais mais que je conseille dans sa version originale- non,ce que je voulais dire c'est que malgre certaines disparites dues a des cultures differentes on est avant tout des etres humains et par voie de consequense certains sentiments sont universels comme en particulier la peur de perdre un etre proche). Ce sera tout pour l'instant .....ciao et a la prochaine

In response to Armelle: i think that when students at MIT refer to "failure" it is on a professional level. Perhaps you are right in saying that having to work extremely hard here is a cause of this fear. To many students, MIT is a humbling place. The mantre here is that life after MIT is "easy" and that nothing can really compare to what students have to go through. So in that sense, being at MIT surrounded by fantastically brilliant minds, ceaseless studies, and incomprehensible work CAN wear down a student and give them doubt about their abilities and talents. and as for the snakes, i'd imagine that response was a result of interpreting the question as one of general fears (snakes, height) as opposed to the [un]abundance of snakes residing on campus.

What suprises me the most is the difference between the thinking of american and french students. not one american response concerned worldly problems as opposed to 9 or 10 french responses. In one sense it IS because Americans are more individualistic in their thinking. I think its harder for americans to think outside of their own sphere, much less to worry about problems of other countries. How is it that words such as "racisme", "une guerre monidale", "une mauvaise evolution de la societe" are french student's largest fears?

In a way, maybe many of us Americans (especially those of us attending college) have been sheltered enough where we aren't directly in contact with the extreme problems of society such as starvation and poverty. The generation above us who have immigrated here might list those as their greatest fears, but in general, and compared to the rest of the world, we live comfortable lives. That could be why none of us listed any societal problems.

When asked what our greatest fears are, on first instinct, we would think of what causes us the greatest pain, and I think it makes sense that it would be losing a loved one, etc., as opposed to what the world in general is going through. Why didn't some of you list more personal fears when that's what the question asked? I would think that unless you've conquered your own personal fears, you wouldn't be able to be so concerned with the rest of society, kind of like taking care of yourself before you try to take care of others. Or is that not the general mentality in France?

Hello everybody,

finally some similarities in the questionary (concerning loved ones, health, success)!

I'd like to focus in the difference that INT students mention social/political problems which are completly absent in MIT students' answers. Why is that?... any theories? Americans = individualsm and French = global thinking?

Believe me that over here things like "racisme", "violence", "re'e'lection de Chirac" sound terrible also. (kidding on the last one.. I have no opinion! who is that guy?). In answering the questionare I thought of the things that occupy me daily and that I could do something to change... did you interpret that question differently? if not, are french students constantly worried about politics and active in doing something about it? After the pressure of study subsides (when you are accepted to INT) you have time to worry about world issues? or you agree with USA being more individualistic and that is that?

I think that failing is such a huge deal in the United States becuase we are afraid that it might show that we are not capable of doing what we have set ourselves to accomplish. And that is a big no no for Americans. We always feel like if we have to prove ourselves to someone, it could be ourselves, or family members, our frineds, our professors.. who ever.. there's always someone though. We don't like to admit that we are not able to do something.. It's something called, PRIDE.

Is failing such a huge deal in France? If so, how is it different to how Americans feel about it? And if not, why is it so?

Hi! Adding to all the responses about MIT students' fears of failing, I would say that it definitely has to do with the tough course load here. I was wondering how different the responses of the French students would have been if they had answered the questionnaire while doing their preparatory studies.... Since the work is more difficult, would failure have appeared more frequently? Or would it still not have been of importance?

In response to the questions of Armelle and Thomas, I would say that failure is definitely in the minds of most MIT students because of the difficulty of studying here. Really, only a small amount of students that are admitted do not graduate (~5% maximum?). Also, the job prospects for graduating students from MIT are better than ever. I think that almost all students find a good job at the end of their studies. I think that many people wrote failure as a fear simply because of the constant burden you are under here at MIT. For example, most of the computer rooms are still full at 2 AM! You constantly need to find motivation to keep working and sometimes fear of failing is all that can keep you going.

Also, maybe paranoia of failure is more common in America because there is much less of a social "safety net". For the lower and middle classes of America, losing a job can mean a loss of health insurance, other benefits, etc. This definitely affects the national psyche.

Another quick point and question. It was also amazing to me to see people's real fear of social problems. These problems are definitely here in America too, but we don't think about them much from day to day. This goes for MIT students and the rest of America. I think this is because most Americans feel that they can't change anything. For example, only about 33% of the population votes here in the presidential election.

My question is: since there is so much worry about social problems, is there a lot of political activism at INT? Also, what is the typical voter turnout for major elections in France?

Bonjour! What surprised me the most about the American responses versus the French responses was the clear difference in the majority of the fears. Americans have a much more individualistic approach to fear, while French students are much more concerned with worldly problems. I was one of the students whose greatest fears was failing. I meant it more in the sense of failing here at MIT. I know that if I can make it through 4 years here, I will be set. Most MIT students don't know what it is like to fail at anything. A large majority have never failed a test before coming to college. It is a big wake up call when you first get here. There is a lot of pressure for us to succeed and do well. We don't want to disappoint anyone especially ourselves. I really have no worldly fears at all. War, racism, violence, and the end of the world are extremely remoteto me. I guess that is why Americans don't worry about these things. They are not an immediate part of our lives.

One French student responded, "la reelection de Chirac a la presidence." I was just wondering what he has done that would make you feel this way.

Hello all, This was one of my favorite categories: it was interesting to see that the fear of being alone/never finding love was a common one. I also noticed that the INT students' fears were beyond themselves to a larger extent than MIT's response.

So, let's talk about something besides the fear of failure....

I strongly agree with Kelly. The americans primary repsonses were failure, death, and solitude. Being among the majority that had similar responses I would conclude that the reason for these common responses it that these fears plague our minds the most. All three factors are present every day of our lives. I can definately say I rarely think of "une guerre monidale" ou "racsime" on a daily (hourly) basis. Is racism prevalent in France?

Bonjour à tous !

Je suis TOTALEMENT d'accord avec Nicola, Geoffrey et Kelly : Je suis un exemple de Française dont les peurs NE sont PAS universelles, j'avoue que je n'y ai pas pensé une seule seconde en remplissant le questionnaire. Ceci ne veut pas dire que cela ne me préoccupe pas de temps en temps !

Donc on ne peut pas dire que tous les Français soient des "global thinkers" !

I think Susan brought up a great point in that it is difficult to have worldly problems be your greatest fears unless you have conquered your personal fears. To those french students: has the thought of failing (a particular test, class, school, work-wise) hardly ever crossed your minds? Is this more a result of how you were brought up or your acheivements in school?

Since for many students in the States, their biggest concern is failure, they spend the majority of their time (at least at school) battling this fear whether it be through studying, class, or work. On the same end, since social problems seem to be consistently on the thoughts of french students' minds, do they spend the majority of their time working to curb these problems?

t as raison quand on etait en prepa(shortname for classes preparatoires) on se preoccupait beaucoup plus de nos etudes. et aujourd hui il n y a plus de chomage pour les jeunes diplomes alors c est le cadet de nos soucis!!

depuis que nous sommes rentres a l int, en septembre on sait que nos etudes sont reussies avec un minimum de serieux ce qui n etait pas le cas avant. c est le systeme de concours qui veut ca; mais si bien sur on s en preoccupe seulement maintenant on est sur d y arrivé!

Dear Fernando and Kelly

J'ai écrit "l'élection de Jacques Chirac" et "la réélection de Jacques Chirac" respectivement pour les questionnaires "les évènements les plus marquants" et "mes plus grandes craintes" tout simplement parce que je ne voulais pas tombe sur des lieux communs tels que "ma rencontre avec ma petite amie" ou "la mort de mon chien". Plus sérieusement, aujourd'hui, Jacques Chirac est soupçonné dans de nombreuses affaires de malversations et de corruption mais étant donné sa fonction de président il est intouchable pour le moment. A l'inverse, aux USA, une telle situation ne saurait perdurer (cf le scandale du Watergate). Qu'en pensez-vous (du dernier paragraphe et non de la mort de mon chien :) ) ?

salut Fernando, En fait, je crois que les inquietudes des Français concerant le racisme ou la guerre, en fait tous ces problèmes "mondiaux" viens du fait que la France est un petit pays. Je m'explique : Les USA sont une énorme puissance qui a un pouvoir gigantesque sur le monde. Etre citoyen Americains doit être très rassurant : on fait parti de la "police du monde". Au contraire, la France est très dépendante de ce qui se passe ailleur dans le monde : les décisions économiques américaines ou japonaises pèsent très lourd sur l'économie française, son rayonnement culturel est incomparablement plus faible que le votre ( as-tu deja vu une série française à la tv ? moi non plus :). Pour toutes ces raisons, les Français doivent se sentir plus vulnérable " de l'exterieur" et donc les peurs qui les habitent sont aussi dirigées vers le monde entier. Cela dit, nos peurs sont à la fois personnelles et collectives : personnelles car elles dependent de notre vécu, de nos experiences et collectives par notre histoire et notre culture. Malgré tout ce qu'on peut en dire, nos deux cultures sont très très très proche ( je me sens beaucoup plus Américains qu'Ivoirien !), nos peurs sont donc largement similaires. Juste une peite question pour finir, as-tu une idée de ce que pense les Américains dans leur ensemble sur la question de la peine de mort ? ciao

Geoffrey wrote : For example, most of the computer rooms are still full at 2 AM!

C'est la même chose à l'INT ! mais c'est parce que Quake III et CounterStrike, c'est vraiment bien. ;-)

to Antoine: when Geoffrey said the computer rooms were full at 2 AM, he meant that they were full of students doing work that late at night! I agree with everyone else in that American fears tend to be more self-concerned, while the French fears deal more with social, political and global issues. I think that living in the United States, we feel very protected from things such as world war, violence, etc. Perhaps this is because France is in Europe and is thus much more close to other nations who suffer from these problems? We are more isolated in that sense in the United States. Are war and violence problems that young people in France really worry about? In the United States we try hard to protect our children from worrying about those things.

I think in the United States there is much more pressure to succeed because the U.S. is such a wealthy nation, and there is a tremendous amount of pressure to remain that way. For this reason, many Americans wrote that failure is their biggest fear. France also is a very powerful country, so I'm curious as to whether there is the same pressure to succeed as there is in America. Do you ever feel pressure that you need to succeed?

Also, I agree with Timothy when he said that being in America we feel protected from problems such as wars, and poverty. Is war something which crosses the mind of a typical French person on a daily basis? Is this because the French feel a real threat that someone will attack them?