Hmm. Certainly I think it's important to understand the context of people's values, I know that as a tutor it took me a little while to get used to the tendency for south east asian overseas students to have a "Academic success at all costs!" attitude(*). On the plus side it meant they tended to have actually done their homework, which was a nice change :) I find that figuring out (and engaging with) the base personalities of people with a different cultural context is almost like translating from a different language.

Interestingly, all the indians I've known/worked with have been nothing like that guy (apart from generally being very motivated) so some of it may have just been him :D

(*)Not that some weren't just as laid back as the australian students! And I think the attitude difference is partly just because they're international students, so the cost of failure is much higher. But I guess that in and of itself is a different context, albeit not a cultural one.