Have fun with this topic while it lasts, gang, but Azizi is correct with her first post. We should at least pause, consider our own cultural blinders, before concluding that some other society is behaving "bizarrely" or "irrationally." That being said, I would say that the British teacher in this case was acting naively at a privilged private school and got stung. She is lucky that her punishment wasn't worse.

When I was in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia in the 1960's, one of my PC friends was explaining the concept of carbon-14 dating to his students. At one point he was indiscrete enough to suggest that the Emperor Hailie Salassie had less carbon-14 in his body than the tree outside the classroom. He was shipped home within 24 hours. There just was no reasonable way that he could explain that "example" to the director of the Ministry of Education.

We are "guests" in other countries. Wise up!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble