After a teacher left an 11-year-old girl a crushing note, people respond with stories of triumph
"Will never happen. Sorry."

Teacher leaves awful note on child's assignment people respond
Teachers are supposed to foster a nurturing environment that encourages learning and growth. It is not an easy feat being a teacher, you're not only charged with teaching a classroom full of children but managing classroom behaviors while also ensuring students are comfortable enough to confide in you when needed. The role of an educator carries a lot of weight with one of the biggest ones being shaping future leaders, but not all teachers are created equal.
Some teachers either don't realize the impact they have on students or entered into the profession for reasons outside of desire to help students succeed. When this happens, a child's spirit can be crushed beyond repair if they don't have others around them to reinforce positive things about them. One mom found herself aghast at the note her elementary school child received on a graded assignment.
There isn't much context to the photo other than a short description that reads, "My 11 year old daughters teacher wrote this comment on her homework. I'm absolutely flabbergasted and angry. This after my daughter just competed in gymnastics nationals a month ago."
girl in orange long sleeve shirt writing on white paper
Photo by Jason Sung on Unsplash
The photo contains a snippet of the graded homework assignment where the little girl answered the prompt "my hopes and dreams" with her aspirations of becoming an Olympic gymnast. The girl also included that she wanted to be a "perfect gymnast," which could be what the teacher was responding to but there's no way to make that determination from the feedback on the assignment, which only reads, "will never happen sorry."
But there does appear to be a line of some sort drawn from the sentence about becoming a perfect gymnast so maybe there was a misunderstanding. Things aren't always conveyed correctly in short written text but that didn't stop people from jumping to the girl's defense and sharing their own stories of being told they couldn't do something only to excel at it later.
from mildlyinfuriating
One person writes in part, "When I was in first grade, my teacher told me multiple times that I was bad at math. I believed her because I was six. I believed that until the last part of college, when I finally HAD to take calculus for my major and I had put it off until my senior year. Professor for Calculus 2 asked me to be a math major… turns out I have a mind for math. I hope the girl in the post wins Olympic gold."
A woman pleads with the mom to take the issue up with the principal, "Please do this for me - back in the 80's a teacher told me I couldn't take a certain programming class because "girls don't need to take programming classes" - he wanted to keep his little boys club intact - no girls allowed! I'm a Database Manager (going on 20 years) now for a large company. My father just signed me up at the local community college to take the programming class."
cady heron math GIFGiphy
Someone else shares their triumph story, "When I was in high school a teacher told me I should drop mathematics in favour of mathematical literacy (the easier math) because I wasn't good at math and I'd never be able to become an engineer or any other related field that needed math. Another math teacher told me to ignore that advice and that if I worked hard and put my mind to it I'd be able to overcome what I find difficult and eventually it will just click. It would take hard work and I'd probably hate it, but I'd get there.
If I had listened to the first teacher I wouldn't be where I am today..literally lecturing complex mathematical concepts to university students. Those 2 years teaching kids I did everything possible to be like the teacher that encouraged me to go further, so that hopefully some of the kids I taught will realise[sic] their full potential like I did."
Calculate Figure It Out GIFGiphy
Another person says, "I broke my arm in high school and was getting my strength back. My max for bench at 1 point was 115 because my arm couldn’t support the weight. I told my weights coach my goal was 250 by my Jr year. I was a freshmen at the time. He said ya you’ll never get there. I hit 280 on my PR and ended up finishing my Jr year in the 1000lbs club for Squats, Cleans, and Bench. After every rep I’d say 'F**k you Mr. McKenna.'"
While some commenters question the validity of the note written on the homework assignment, people overwhelmingly support the girl by showing comments like these from educators far more common than people would like to think. Hopefully the child gets a chance to read all the triumphant notes left by others and goes on to win a gold medal at the Olympics one day.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."
This article originally appeared in May.