The director also attributed Akeelah's low-esteem and doubt of her own capacities to the public school system, where she is bullied and "her intellectual curiosity is kind of crushed". As such, Akeelah is portrayed as an "undermotivated student", who "to be stigmatized as a freak or a brainiac," avoids showing her abilities. According to Wesley Morris of "The Boston Globe", the film shows "the contradiction gifted students feel in an inhospitable environment." Ann Hornaday from "The Washington Post" opined that Akeelah's sentence "Why would I want to represent a school that doesn't even have doors on the toilets?" is "one of the film's many subtle critiques of the country's education policies." Writing in the "English Journal", Amanda L. Hodges said it suggests a new approach on teaching with the "50,000 coaches" part; she declared it deconstructs the image of teachers "as those who keep order and disseminate knowledge" and shows that "[teaching is not an isolated activity that begins and ends at the classroom door."