[Tsuwabuki]

Frankly I am so far removed from the "student" part of the "teacher-student" relationship, that I don't even remember being late to classes and being asked to apologise in public for it. My classes were so large (core classes) or so informal (senior thesis, pedagogy, upper level history and English, graduate studies) that if I had been late I would have been A) unnoticeable or B) not disturbing anyone.

That's university. In high school, I was always that "get the best seat first" person, and I was never late to class unless I was detained by a teacher or school function, and then I had a note.

I know that when students are late to my classes and actually disrupt it, I expect the full apology above. And I expect it from my Japanese students. Suffice to say, I rarely have a student significantly late enough to disrupt the class as a whole that does not have a very good reason for doing so, and it usually comes in the form of a note that tells me where they were and is signed (or hankoed) by another teacher. At the worst a student comes in after the "Hello, Class" but before the lesson has started. I might twit them a bit, but not enough to crossover into humiliation. Enough to know I'm not upset and enough for them to avoid doing it in the future. I do not ask for an apology of any sort, lone "sorry" or otherwise.