A Clue to Filipinos' Inability to Grasp the Concept of Punctuality

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A minor epiphany while waiting to pick up my daughter from her grade one class this afternoon: Schools in the Philippines do not have bells. In other parts of the world, children are conditioned to follow schedules by the helpful - if somewhat Pavlovian - reminder of the school bell marking the beginning and end of classes. Could the lack of this simple bit of training develop adults who think 9:25 is a reasonably accurate time to show up to a 9:00 meeting? Interesting thought.

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  1. Lack of incentives and disincentives for such behavior is all I can say....

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