Matilda Education

You can't really blame Mrs. Phelps here, for being a bit skeptical about Matilda's abilities. She looks like a five-year-old, so she must read like one, too, right? What's so awesome about this little scene is that we get the sense, early on, that Matilda will keep defying the expectations of her teachers and the other adults in her life. They won't be able to educate her in the way they typically would teach a student. It's a different ballgame altogether.

Apparently, all parents think their kids are the greatest things since sliced bread, and the teachers have to wait for the report cards in order to tell the whole grim truth. The narrator says he'd have fun with this part, cooking up scorchers (or making up lies) so that the parents are really surprised to learn what their children act like in school. Sounds kind of fun (if a little mean).

Mrs. Phelps would be an awesome teacher. She's so much more than a librarian who gives Matilda books. She shows Matilda how to read them, by letting the words wash over her. That just goes to show that reading can be about more than just gaining facts and knowledge; it can be an experience.

Amazingly, Miss Honey is only the second adult to realize how special Matilda is. She can tell Matilda needs to be nurtured, not put down. What's awesome about this scene is the physical reaction that Miss Honey has to Matilda's genius. She's so excited her spine is practically tingling. It's thrilling for her to meet such a wonder-kid, which tells us that Miss Honey is an awesome teacher. She revels in her students' achievements, even if they have nothing whatsoever to do with her.

Matilda is so awesome that Miss Honey does something she would never do otherwise: visit the terrible Trunchbull. That's some serious devotion to her student.

Unlike Miss Honey (and Mrs. Phelps, too), the Trunchbull is pretty much the worst teacher Shmoop can imagine. She sees a school as a place made worse by kids, rather than as a place designed to nurture them. Can you imagine if your principal called kids vomitous? Or garbage? Can you spell fired?

Here, we get a handle on what a bad educator the Trunchbull is. She thinks the best school will be one with no kids. None. Of course this is hilarious, because the idea itself makes absolutely zero sense. A school with no students isn't a school at all. It's just an empty building. And what, in the world, is the point of that?

You can tell that Matilda loves learning and stretching her mind. She doesn't just try to learn things to get good grades or to please other people. Far from it. (After all, the more she learns, the more her parents seem to hate her.) Instead, Matilda likes learning for the sake of learning—it moves her, brings her joy, expands her world.

There's no library Matilda can go to in order to teach herself how to move the cigar with her mind. She has to do it on her own. She has to teach herself, and she does it splendidly. Sometimes, learning is just a matter of a little imagination combined with a lot of practice.

Let's be fair: the Trunchbull has a point. In business and everyday life, people can enjoy great success when they think outside of the box. So when the Trunchbull has the kids spell things backwards, it might be a way for her to help them expand their minds. But of course that's giving her far too much credit. Really, she's just trying to trap them into messing up, so Miss Honey has to come to their defense.