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I learned that their time and space orientation also play out in school and cause conflicts there. Teachers describe students who are not punctual day after day, and their parents who arrive unexpectedly at school, are seen as rude and inconsiderate. The teachers consider this to be unacceptable behaviour. Sometimes what happens is that the parents become engaged in an activity that was important to them at the time (a present time orientation) and simply miss the appointment or meeting (future orientation) at school. At other times, there is an all-consuming crisis with a relative or friend that may suddenly change their path. Teachers erroneously interpret these no-shows as not caring. In the reality of their world, these parents simply do not follow the school clock or an agenda as the teachers do. I note that only a few of these homes have calendars that are visibly displayed. The families appear to not receive the plethora of free calendars like the middle class from their insurance companies or financial institutions. None of them has personal insurance and when it comes to their use of banks, they are not regular clients. Although they have bank accounts, they tend to use the automatic tellers at the corner store to cash their cheques. Michelle has an expensive calendar purposely chosen to match the cow décor
in her kitchen, but it is not turned to the correct month. She says the reason
she keeps it on the selected page is because |
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