Gael - 10:01pm Mar 5, 2006 (#1 of 7)

Je prends de l'avance ici aussi ! ;)

Ici aussi, je n'ai fais qu'une analyse très sommaire et superficielle, nous verrons demain en cours d'Anglais...

Les réponses me semblent ici assez disparates, hétérogènes; mais au sein de chaque pays. En fait, les réponses semblent, à mon avis, refletter les différences dans nos jugements et nos conceptions de l'éducation, au sein même des pays, plutôt que de refleter une réelle différence de point de vue générale entre Français et Américains. Ce qui voudrait ainsi dire que le domaine de l'éducation est encore resté quelque chose de très personnel, quelque soit le coté de l'atlantique où l'on se trouve. Comme dit ma mère :"Chaque famille est un monde à part" ;)

Adriana - 05:21pm Mar 7, 2006 (#2 of 7)

I think American and French responses are very similar in this situation. Not do anything, not say anything, it's none of my business seemed to be the responses that was written most often, on both sides. However, it seems as though American students would be more willing to intervene if they thought the mother was being too harsh (the word abuse was mentioned several times in the American side). However, only one French student wrote that he/she would intervene in an extreme case. It also seems as though American students would immediately think poorly of the mother while French students would be more open-minded and wonder if there was a reason why the mother would slap her child.

Lisa - 01:05pm Mar 8, 2006 (#3 of 7)

I agree with Adriana. I also felt that the Americans were a little bit more emotional in their answers... they were more like, "I'd be mad, shocked, uncomfortable", etc. while the French students didn't say much about what they'd feel. Also a few French students said something to the effect of "i'd leave" which the American students didn't mention. But other than that and what Adriana mentioned above, the responses were pretty similar.

Brock - 09:30am Mar 9, 2006 (#4 of 7)

I agree with pretty much everything that has been said above. I think that the difference seen is more a function of personal attitudes rather than any marked cultural difference.

As Adriana noted, the MIT students seemed more likely to intervene if the corporal punishment was too extreme, but I wonder if this is more a function of popular perception of what "slap her child" actually means. A slap can mean anything from a slight blow to the palms of the childs hands, to a back handed blow across the face. In the US, popular media definitely has everyone on the lookout for abused children, and consequently when I hear the term "slap her child", somewhere in the back of my mind I get a vision of a mother beating her child to within an inch of its life. In France what kind of connotation does the term "donner une gifle à son enfant" carry?

Julien - 01:57pm Mar 9, 2006 (#5 of 7)

"donner une gifle a un enfant" ne signifie pas le battre à mort. Lorsque j'ai lu la question je me suis dit "l'enfant est insupportable, sa mère lui donne une gifle, c'est normal". Peut-être aurions-nous été plus choqués si la question était "une femme frappe son enfant". La gifle me paraît très saine. C'est peut-être que j'ai dans ma vie rencontré beaucoup plus souvent des enfants qui méritaient des gifles qu'on ne leur donnait pas plutôt que des enfants battus. Je tiens ici à remercier mes parents qui m'ont giflé lorsque j'étais insupportable. Quand pensez-vous?

Alban - 05:43pm Mar 9, 2006 (#6 of 7)

Je suis entièrement d'accord avec Julien, la gifle est pour nous une petite punition qui est donné à un enfant quand il devient insupportable. Et pour avoir travaillé à la brigade ds mineurs, je peux te dire que ce n'est pas une gifle qui va traumatiser un enfant. Après chacun est plsu ou moins choqué, mai sje perçoit plus dans les réactions françaises que en fait c'est l'enfant "qui l'a cherché en étant insupportable" et donc en fait pour nous c'est plus la faute de l'enfant que des parents.

Après il est sur que si la claque et la scène dure pendant 5 minutes nos sentiments vont être plus proches des votres, mais je ne pense pas que nous allons intervenir, au pire faire une réflexion à voix haute mais pas plus. Est ce que vous personnellement vous agiriez et irez parler directement à la mère dans ce genre de cas?

Josephine - 09:08pm Mar 9, 2006 (#7 of 7)

Perhaps the reason why the Americans have more tendencies to intervene in such cases has something to do with the social situation of family structure in the US. I think to a certain extent people here become sensitized with the issue of physical punishment in the home, because we see a lot of abuse with its practice. The way parents treat their children becomes more of a public concern and somehow that situation entitles the general public to dictate what happens in one's private life i.e. family. It is such an unfortunate situation that in some cases the government has to take over parents' responsibilities to raise a kid.

I think some physical punishment is a good way to emphasize a point to a child, especially if the child is behaving unbearably. As Julien has said, it is essential in the character building of a child. However, the most important point is that the punishment is used wisely by the parents; by any means it should not be used to hurt the child, or show the superiority of their power, or even as an outlet of their anger, but solely in the light of the child's moral and character upbringing.