This is a true story about a cultural misunderstanding with serious consequences. There had just been a workshop at the school about sexual harassment but the teacher from Cameroon misunderstood the concept and context of sexual harassment. In his country and rural area, if a woman you are not married to tells you she is pregnant, she is accusing you of being the father. In Canada it is not unusual for women to tell both other women and men they are not related to that they are expecting a baby. In this case, the principal did not check to see if there was a misunderstanding and simply filed the complaint of sexual harassment against the pregnant teacher without investigation. In the end both teachers lost their jobs. This type of problem can be easily avoided by asking yourself, "Is there something here I am misunderstanding? Could this be a cultural difference?" To get to the root of the misunderstanding you could ask, "In your country, how is news about a pregnancy shared and who shares the news?" would have helped clarify the cultural differences. Discussion Questions:
1. What surprised you about this video?
2. What might the principal have done to try to clear things up?
3. If you were either one of these teachers, what could you do to try to resolve this?
4. Is the cultural misunderstanding apparent? Why or why not?
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