Is it OK to be late ?
(1) In the United States , it is important to be on time or punctual, for an appointment , a class , a meeting , etc. For an American , being on time means arriving at the exact hour of the scheduled meeting. However, this may not be true all the countries . An American professor discovered this difference while teaching a class at a Brazilian university. The two hour class was scheduled to begin at 10:00am and end at 12 pm.
On the first day, the professor arrived at 10:00am , which was on time for him as an America. To his surprise, no one was in the class room.
Many students came after 10:00am.Several arrived after 10:30am. Two students came after 11:00am .
Although all the sudent were friendly and greeted the professor as they arrieved , few apologized their lateness. Were these students being rude?
Before deciding that they were simply impolite, the professor decided to study the student behaviour.
The professor talked to AMerican and Brazilian students about lateness in both an informal and a formal situation: lunch with a friend and a university class , respectively.
He gave them a example , asked them how they would react and recorded their answers .
If they had a lunch appointment with a friend , the average American student defined latness as 19 minutes after the agreed time.
On the other hand , the average Brazilian student felt the friend was later after 33 minutes
In an American University, student are expected to arrive at the appointed hour.
In contrast , in Brazil , neither the teacher nor the students always arrive at the appointed hour.
Classes not only begin at the schedule time in the United States , but they also end the schedule time .
In the Brazilian class , only a few student left the class at noon: many remained past 12:30pm to discuss the class and ask more questions .
While arriving late may not be very important in Brazil, neither is staying late.
The explanation for these differences is complicated .
People from Brazilian and North American cultures have different feeling about lateness and become angry.
As a result of his study , the American professor learned that the Brazilian students were not being disrespect to him.
Instead, they were simply behaving in the appropriate way for a Brazilian student in Brazil.
Eventually , the professor was able to adapt his own behaviour so that he could feel comfortable in the new culture.
(1) Main idea : The important of being on time or being late between two different country culture. The American professor researched the culture differences between American and Brazilian students about being on time and being late.
(2) General explanation:
People from Brazilian and North American cultures have different feeling about lateness and become angry. The study show that the Brazilian student do not strict about being on time as their country culture or late and the American student are being strictly comply to be on time also not happy or satisfy if you are late.
(3) Specific Example : Professor provide two example of his study the
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