I was discussing the syllabus with the students and discovered an interesting cultural / linguistic reality. The syllabus was prepared by my colleague who will teach most of the course after I go on maternity leave. A propos lab activities the syllabus says, “Workbook chapters are due on the designated dates no later than midnight.”
So the question is: if the designated date is September 3, when does the assignment have to be handed in? On September 2 before 11:59 pm or on September 3 before 11:59 pm?
I’m asking because I just discovered that the answer is different for me and my colleague. This is not a trivial question because a riot almost broke out in class today over this.
Clarissa's Blog 
That is confusing. I would say it’s by 11:59 on the day of the 3rd….which also gives them 1 minute on the 4th to submit.
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Ha! That’s what I thought. But it turns out my colleague meant the 2nd.
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Where is the colleague from and what is their logic?
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It is a Hispanic colleague, and I’m not sure I get the logic either. Apparently, midnight means “the time right before the specified date begins” for the colleague.
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I agree, I would interpret it as 23.59 on September 3.
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It’s confusing… because I interpreted midnight as 12:00 am, and 12:00 am is the beginning of a new day so saying “no later than midnight on September 3rd” means “the professor will check the email no later than midnight before going to bed.” However, I almost never think of midnight as the beginning of the next day because I’m often still awake and I suspect many undergraduates are like that.
Honestly it’s better to move up the stated dates a day, (from September 3rd to September 2) and state that any submissions need to be timestamped September 2nd 11:59:59 pm or:23;59:59 at the latest. Then there’s no ambiguity.
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That’s why my due date always specifies 23:59! 12:00 midnight is the following date. So it would be Sept. 2? I don’t know why you’re saying “before” 23:59; it could be at 23:59 as long as the midnight hadn’t turned over. Or 00.00 exactly. You say “no later than” which means it can be “as late as.”
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If you wanted to specify Sept 2 that would be a very dumb way to do it, though, so I’m assuming you meant Sept 3. It also implies the night getting later, when the due date is the whole day before that.
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I thought it was September 3 but it turns out the colleague meant September 2nd.
I used this situation to illustrate to the students the difficulties of understanding others within a shared language, let alone when 2 languages are involved.
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The syllabus says “midnight” but that is confusing because it can be the midnight before the day begins or before the day ends.
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On September 3 before 11:59 pm.
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Why “before” 11:59? It says “no later than…” 11:59 is not later midnight? So you’re saying the real deadline is 11:58?
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No, the latest is 11:59 or 12:00 (should be too OK, imo). But not 12:01, if professor wants to be super strict.
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// I thought it was September 3 but it turns out the colleague meant September 2nd.
The colleague was mistaken. I had many deadlines during studies and it would always mean 3rd.
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It cannot possibly mean before 23:59. There would still be a minute left in the day before midnight. I agree with your interpretation, Clarissa, except that, say, submitting at 23:59:59 on the third of September would be within the rules as I see it.
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I’m not sure it’s a language and culture thing–I recently changed everything to due by 11:59 pm due to confusion over this issue between my students and me (all American).
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I’d interpret that as 11.59 pm on Sept 3rd.
All our deadlines are within the faculty reception hours as that is where the paper copy of assignments are time stamped and handed in. Before 4pm is a lot less ambiguous.
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I feel very normal now that I discovered that everybody has the same interpretation of this date as I do.
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It says ‘on the 3rd’ so you would turn it in sometime during that day. Once that day runs out (midnight) the assignment is late.
He might’ve meant the other date, but you should clarify for the students!!!!
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Trigger warning: stereotypes
“It is a Hispanic colleague, and I’m not sure I get the logic either.”
IME Hispanics in (but not from) the US react to the idea of deadlines, appointment times etc in one of two ways (without a whole lot inbetween)
1. As if they’d never left home (la hora latina rules!)
2. Internalize NAmerican rules and become even more fanatic about being on time (people meeting deadlines) than your average German.
I wonder which your collleague is?
For myself, in the wilds of central europe where people try to be really punctual but are really bad at the whole ‘deadline’ concept, I’m liable to give a deadline of “23.59 Tuesday August 20” but I don’t necessary stay up checking email that late (and if it arrives before noon the next day then I’m generally cool with it (and email isn’t always instantaneous).
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“Internalize NAmerican rules and become even more fanatic about being on time (people meeting deadlines) than your average German.”
– Maybe that is what is happening here. All of the English speakers on the blog and in the classroom gave my interpretation to the concept of “before midnight.”
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