Both sides agree that it is hard. hard.

Salut, je pense aussi que le travail est quelque chose de difficile et qui peut paraitre ennuyeux par rapport à notre vie étudiante forte en activités, en découverte et en divertissement, mais on retrouve aussi dans nos réponses communes une idée de valorisation du travail (challenge,rewarding, fierté, accomplissement,...). La force des mots à connotations négatives (boring,long hours,ennui,fatigue,...) que l' on retrouve dans les deux séries de réponse, montre que nous aimerions rester étudiants et peut-être aussi que nous appréhendons la vie professionnelle. Dans vos réponses, je trouve plus de relations directes avec le monde de l'entrepris. Ce qui me fait penser que vous êtes plus sensibilisés au monde professionnel durant vos étudesm est-ce vrai? Combien vous reste-t-il de temps avant de travailler?

Gilles

Américains et Français s'accordent pour dire que le travail est plutôt pénible, dur et ennuyeux, même s'il peut aussi être une source d'épanouissement, et qu'il est également nécéssaire. Beaucoup le relient d'ailleurs à l'argent. Toutefois, les Americains lui associent plus souvent la notion de temps (late at night, long hours). Par conséquent, je me dis que vous vous sentez peut-être aliénés par votre travail, vous qui justement attachez une grande importance à votre liberté personnelle. Avez-vous l'impression que le travail d'un individu le contraint à des sacrifices trop importants, du point de vue de la famille ou des amis par exemple ?

This is the comparison that I found most interesting. In America, we think that we are the hardest workers in the world. (Some Americans who have been exposed to the Asian culture might put Asians first and Americans second.) Most educated Americans would not think that it is out of line for a boss to ask his employee to log 60 hours per week. (I say educated because I believe that such a work ethic resides mostly in the fraction of the population that has completed university.) America was founded on the principle that one has to work for success, and many Americans use brute strength to achieve success. My father, for example, goes to work at 4 a.m. and usually does not return home until 11 p.m. He is very tired at the end of the week and usually spends his weekends sleeping so that he can get up and go back to work the following Monday. He flinches when my mother asks him to take 5 days off for Christmas because he knows his project is going to need him then.

In all of the French movies that I have watched and in the French classes that I have taken, the same crazy work ethic does not seem to exist in the French culture. I have always been led to believe that the French value their families and their personal lives as well as their success in work. Therefore, they work 35 hour weeks and take most of August as holiday. Yet, les eleves associate "fatigue" with "travail" while MIT students do not. Why? Is it that my perceptions of the French businessworld are really wrong? Do students like yourselves work way over 35 hours a week when you get out of school? Or are the jobs in France so terribly boring when compared to the excited French life that 7 hours a day is tiring?

I think a big difference is how we define a good job. In my opinion, americans more often associate a successful career with a bigger house in the suburbs, an SUV and mutual funds. In contrast, at least in Greece, a good job is one that allows someone to take long vacations and provides enough money for a comfortable but not luxurious life. That aside, isn't it true that the 35-hour week is practically bankrupt in France? Isn't it hard to maintain such a work ethic, when people in other countries like India and China are willing to work 60 or 80 hours for half the salary?

It is easy to see that both sides find work to be difficult, but I got the impression that the French saw work as more interesting than a burden while the Americans mainly saw work as a burden. Why is this? What would you say is the work ethic of the French?

I wonder if our responses to this prompt have more to do with the schools we got to than the cultures we live in. At MIT, there is a very strong culture of work. People boast about how little they've slept and how much work they have left to do. I know the majority of my conversations with my classmates consist of a comparision of our homework loads and worries about our next assignments. This, however, is not the norm for American college students. Can the same be said of the École?

I agree with Jenna: Students at MIT seem to value hard work a little too much! Sure, one needs to work to be successful but often times people forget how much more important it is to have a successful personal life outside of work. I have personally found that this truly the case at MIT for a large proportion of the student body. Whatever happened to the good old 'work hard, play hard'? I hope that students at l'ecole have a better sense of how to balance their lives!

Salut, en réponse à Jenna et Katja, je voudrais dire que les choses sont très différentes à l'Ecole Polytechnique. Ici il est plutôt facile de valider les cours sans trop travailler (je parle de validation car, pour l'essentiel des élèves, il est juste important de passer d'une année à l'autre) car la sélection a été faite lors du concours d'entrée à l'Ecole. Nous pouvons donc profiter au maximum des activités offertes sur le campus (sport, associations, fêtes, ...) tout en gardant un niveau correct en cours. Notre vie sur le campus est assez idéale sur ce point.

"work hare , play hard"? Je ne suis pas d'accord avec cette perception. Quand nous travaillons beaucoup, nous reposerons d'abord, et le temps qui nous laisse à jouer devenira très peu. Le plus important, c'est trouver le plaisir dans le travail. Comme ça, quand on travaille, on joue en même temps.

60 à 80 heure pour moitie de salaire? Tu as trop exagéré. Nous somme pas encore si cons. Nous travaillons beaucoup pour survire dans la société remplie de concurrence.

Pour ma part je pense que nous voyons différemment l'adéquation entre travail et loisir. Je ne sais pas pour vous mais il est clair que lorsque je réfléchis à mon futur métier, j'essaye de trouver un compromis satisfaisant entre boulot et loisir. Il nous faudra travailler dur pour réussir mais je sais que je vais éviter certains métiers car ils demandent trop de travail! Attention, le travail ne me fait pas peur, mais n'ayant qu'une seule vie, je me vois mal la gacher en bossant toute la journée sans profiter de mes amis et de ma famille. Comment envisagez vous ce rapport entre travail et loisir pour vous plus tard?

In response to Gilles, I think that for most Americans, the ideal relationship between work and free-time would be one like the French have (or that I have gathered that you have). They would like to go to work for 35 or 40 hours a week and come home to have fun with their family or their friends. They would like to be able to play golf during the week and watch all of their children's soccer games.

However, in America, many believe that hard work leads to success. And, since Americans place such a high priority on succeeding, most Americans are willing to give up most things for a higher position or salary at their job.

Most students at MIT had to work very hard to get here. And most have to work pretty hard to stay here. All-nighters (when one stays up all night to finish homework) are pretty common here, and a lot of students put the development of their hobbies on hold because they simply don't have time for them. Because we are already so used to this kind of lifestyle, I would dare to say that most MIT students will work 60-80 hours a week to achieve success. They will work hard, and they will benefit greatly from their hard work, whether it be personal satisfaction at a job well done, a high position in a company, or a salary that will make their family more than comfortable. They will marry and have children, but their spouses will say "I do" with the knowledge that many days he or she might eat alone because his/her partner is still at work at supper time.

As for me, I plan to be a doctor and work in developing countries, mostly with Medecins sans Frontieres. You can imagine that the more time a doctor spends treating people the more people she is able to help. I imagine that I will work very long hours because my passion is to help people, to help the most people that I can. My work will hopefully turn into my hobby, and my family will hopefully understand and support me.