This article uses the film The Matrix as an unexpected yet powerful tool for rethinking teacher education. Miami University’s Katherine Batchelor and Scott A. Sander conduct a self-study that blends pop culture and curriculum studies to examine how teacher educators—and preservice teachers—can move toward more democratic, socially just practices. Their central question aligns closely with searches about self-study, teacher education, democratic education, social justice, and curriculum studies: How can educators “unplug” from long-standing, traditional notions that limit the purpose of schooling?

Drawing on scenes from The Matrix, the authors explore how entrenched habits formed through years of schooling shape the ways preservice teachers view teaching. They describe the “banking model” of education as a kind of mental Matrix—familiar, comfortable, and deeply limiting. Through self-study, they analyze their own journeys as former K–12 teachers who once reinforced this system, and they demonstrate how critically reflecting on their practice led them to foreground democratic education and social justice in their teaching. The film’s metaphor helps them illustrate why questioning assumptions, examining personal histories, and engaging in curriculum studies can support teachers in seeing beyond standardized, outcomes-based models.

Ultimately, the authors argue that teacher education programs should help students develop flexible, critical habits of mind. By inviting preservice teachers into reflective, justice-oriented conversations rather than relying on technical “best practices,” teacher educators can cultivate what the authors call a “collective Neo”—educators prepared to challenge inequitable systems and imagine more democratic possibilities for schooling.

Faculty authors: Katherine Batchelor and Scott A. Sander, Miami University
Keywords: self-study, teacher education, democratic education, social justice, curriculum studies
Publication details: Studying Teacher Education (2017). “Down the Rabbit Hole: Using The Matrix to Reflect on Teacher Education.” https://doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2017.1286577