11 Lateness

Today, I took a taxi to be on time for an engagement. I knew I would get there on time with the taxi. I did not want to take the risk with mass transit. I knew my client would not be pleased if I were late. I have not been without sin in this regard but I am usually on time with almost all my classes. For this semester, excluding an on-line class I taught, I was late once to one college class because a traffic jam held up my taxi and I was five minutes late; late to one college class three times where I walked to facility; and no lateness for two classes. As I tell my students to come on time, I tell them I have taught as many as 12 classes which means up to 24 times a week I had to travel to different and far flung parts of the city which I have made on time whether it was by automobile or by mass transit.

No matter what the time of day –morning, afternoon, or evening– they come in late in a steady stream. And it is always the same people coming late at the same time. About half of every class comes in late. For these students the class schedule is simply a suggestion.

I had one person who managed throughout most of the term come the last half hour of a three hour class or even come just as the class was being dismissed. He blamed mass transit for his problems though it boggled my mind on how he planned to come to class from the section of the city he was coming from in one hour although I knew from personal experience this would take at least two hours. I had one student leaving from the college where I taught and she worked to go another college where I taught and she was my student. I knew the trip took about 1 ½ hours but allowed myself two hours because this required three changes of mass transit. She allowed herself one hour to make the same trip and usually arrived about fifteen minutes before the end of class.

One student claimed every other time he was late that the drawbridge was up which held up traffic for half hour or more. I would ask students where they would come from. I would say it is strange that I had to make two changes of mast transit while you only to take the bus once and I am still here on time from whatever location they were coming from One semester I had the students write down their excuses if they wanted to be marked present. Several of them collected 10 to 15 pieces of paper which would have been higher if they were not absent. The favorite was that the bus was late. I would tell them they were practicing just-in time and they should come early on their time instead of being late on class time. I could utilize the extra time as I did to study or read or some thing else productive.

I eliminated the so-called “grace period.” I noticed the students who would come in just as the grace period came to an end could now make it on time when class was suppose to start. I have students who argue that I should not make them for being late by one minute. I tell them late is late. I have had students who feel they should not be marked late even if they are twenty minutes late.

In most of the classrooms, there is a public clock which I go by. I tell the students they should make adjustments with their wrist watches or whatever time piece they use to tell the time. When the claim the clock is “fast,” I say let us have a vote. I will start taking the attendance five minutes after the hour but that means we will end class five minutes later. The students argue I should start the class later but not end the class later. When we have a vote, the original time stays.

I mark students late whose bags on the chairs while they have “gone to the bathroom.” When they complain, I tell them, “Your books are on time but not you.”

Excuses on why students are late: The bus is late is the favorite, a few are candid enough to say they overslept, coming from a distant part of the campus (sometimes legitimate for which I would make an accommodation), dental or medixal appointments, etc. Some would say they would have to take care of a child or an elderly parent every day. The excuse would be noble but why sign up for a class you cannot make on time.

The obvious issues are that coming in late, they are lost, have to ask the teacher or fellow students where the class is, or they want to tell the teacher they should be marked present, they don’t do their fair share of the group work, miss vital parts of instruction, and are some what confused on what are the proceedings of the class.

And, of course, they come late for tests. I tell them, they will not extra time to accommodate their being late.

Other teachers I know have closed the door on student after the first ten minutes or give a surprise or announced quiz at the beginning of class that late comers cannot make up. For me, this sounds like extra work which based on past experience really does not motivate the students to come to class on time. The students show no shame in coming late to class. Of course, repeated lateness is a sign of no respect for the teacher or the subject.

I had one student who would come an hour late; go out for Starbucks latte, and come back half hour later. He said his cruel boss made him work late and he did not have his breakfast. Of course, I would cruel if he curtailed his work schedule that enabled him to pay his living expenses.

Of course, you can tell who will get the better grades – the students who come on time—while the students who come have other problems that impede their learning. I just tell the students that when they graduate lateness will not go away as problem magically. Instead, employers will not advance them on the job and replace them with people that will show up on time.