Opinion: If you’re going to behave like an animal, keep it at home

I’m all for self-expression, but if you’re teaching in a classroom full of children, is it too much to ask that you behave like a respectable adult and not the family pet, asks Kylie Lang.

The teacher who identified as a cat in the classroom.

I’m all for people expressing themselves but if you’re teaching in a classroom full of children, is it too much to ask that you behave like a respectable adult and not the family pet?

While it’s becoming increasingly common for people to cast aside their birth identity – and anyone who’s not woke enough to accept this is to be shamed as a bigot – if you’re going to behave like an animal, do it in your own home.

We’re told the teacher who reportedly referred to themselves as a cat, hissed at students and licked their hands like paws is no longer employed at Logan’s Marsden State High School.

Miss Purr, as kids were asked to address this individual, should stop teaching altogether – and the Queensland department of education should see that this happens.

The state of public education is worrisome enough when you compare national academic performance standards and read about rampant behavioural disruptions without having teachers donning cat ear headbands.

Children cannot be expected to focus on maths, English and other core foundation subjects for future life success with this nonsense going on.

The classroom is not an alternative stage for a teacher’s personal peculiarities to play out.

The classroom exists for the benefit of children, and anyone standing at the front of one should already know this.

I’m not surprised there’s been an uproar at Marsden High over Miss Purr.

“It’s absolutely disgusting; something needs to be done about this,” a relative of one student said.

“I want teachers who I can rely on to teach my kids what they need in life, and be someone they can look up to, which isn’t someone that wears (animal) ears,” said another.

On Tuesday morning, Minister for Education John-Paul Langbroek said he could “reassure Queenslanders that the teacher is not teaching at the school”.

Mr Langbroek said as soon as the matter was identified, the principal took action.

As should be the case – but I would wager the damage has been done. Kids won’t forget this in a hurry.

And why should it be up to children to raise red flags via their parents? Where is the oversight of staff on a daily basis?

This is not the first time I’ve written about “furries”.

Back in March 2022, I was made aware that a handful of students at Brisbane Girls Grammar School were simulating walking on all fours and licking the backs of their hands.

One young teen was said to have cut a hole in her uniform to accommodate an invisible tail.

One school insider told me: “The school seems too worried about not offending anyone but it makes you wonder how much as a society we have to accept.”

Indeed.

Girls Grammar did not answer my specific questions about furries, but a spokeswoman for the principal said the school “has not been made aware of any students who identify as furries”.

The fact the school said it wasn’t aware, despite multiple sources coming forward to me, emboldened some people to suggest it was fantasy – that I made it up.

They wondered how this could be possible in a school context.

Miss Purr provides some clarity.

Identifying as a cat is in fact a thing. A sad and bizarre thing, some of us might say at the risk of being slammed as intolerant. But does it belong in an educational environment? Not one bit.

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Originally published as Opinion: If you’re going to behave like an animal, keep it at home