I have no idea if the story is true or was invented for the benefit of sad, unloved kids everywhere but here it is.
A little boy came home from school one day, and his mother told him she’d received a letter from his school’s principal. She read the letter aloud for the boy, and this is what it said,
“Ma’am, your son is absolutely brilliant. We have no resources at this school to teach somebody who is obviously a genius. We believe you should take him out of school and educate him in a way that will suit his talent.”
The boy grew up to become Thomas Edison, the great inventor who created the light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a plethora of other great inventions. After his mother died, Edison was going through her papers and found that old letter from the principal. This is what it really said:
“Ma’am, your son is retarded. We can’t educate him because he doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to learn. Please take him out of school and take care of him at home.”
P.S. Be careful when you share this story with others, though. I already made two adult men cry with it, and now one of them is avoiding me.
Clarissa's Blog 
Edison he saw the light, don’t underestimate your mother!, fine post
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One part of this story that is certainly not factual (vs. True) is the use of the word “retarded.” That is a fairly new term to describe people with low I.Q.s.
The medical terms that had been in use before were “idiot,” “imbecile” and “moron.” I seem to remember that each of those terms signified a different range of I.Q. points but I don’t remember the sequence and am not inclined to look it up (Dr. Dreidel might know).
Anyway, those terms evolved into pejoratives so the new, modern term “retatded”was substituted. Now of course, “retarded” has evolved into a perjorative and the new, modern term is “intellectual disability” or ID for short, or to look like you are down with everything in the disability world.
It is an interesting question to me, how some groups are able to take the terms they are referred by and make them into badges of pride — “gay” and “queer”come to mind — and some can’t.
I predict the next disability term that will be replaced is “autistic.” Too often it is mistakenly used to mean “sociopathic.” My bet is that “on the spectrum” will be the next term used.
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This is, of course, my retelling of somebody else’s retelling. Originally, I read the story on a Russian-language website. We are a culture of unloved, abused children, so the story is massively popular.
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I have the idea that in most of Eastern Europe a mother would be more likely to reverse the letters (if she got a letter saying her child was a genius she’d convey to the child that the school is complaining about never having seen such a stupid lazy child before).
Apparently this is supposed to be ‘motivating’….
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Oh, absolutely. But seeing the resistance to the topic in this thread, I’m starting to suspect that things are not much better elsewhere.
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Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
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There’s some element <a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison#Early_life>truth to it. He had only 3 months of formal education, his mother did teach him at home.
However he was well aware the teacher thought he wasaddled. They didn’t spare children’s feelings much in the 19th century.
This story also feels like something a homeschooler would reblog.
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Yeah, ’cause we all know I’m a passionate supporter of homeschooling. 🙂 🙂
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Here’s a page that goes into a bit more detail:
https://www.truthorfiction.com/after-a-schoolteacher-called-thomas-edison-addled-his-heroic-mother-stepped-in/
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Very nice. Liked it. Thanks.
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