Homeschoolers excluded from Subway contest

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iamnotaparakeet
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27 May 2008, 1:43 pm

Quote:

Subway contest: Every Sandwich Tells A Story

Enter the Every Sandwich Tells a Story Contest for a change to win great prizes for your child’s school!

Here’s what you could win:

1 Grand Prize Winner:

– Athletic equipment for your child’s school ($5,000 value)
– Scholastic Gift Bastket (sic) for your home
– SUBWAY Card ($100 value)
– See your story published on www.subwaykids.com and in Scholastic Parent and Child magazine.

6 Runners-Up:

– Scholastic Gift Basket
– SUBWAY Card ($50 value)

...

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Contest is open only to legal residents of the United States who are currently over the age of 18 and have children who attend elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted.

Link

LoveableNerd
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27 May 2008, 1:47 pm

I'm a big advocate of homeschooling myself, but I can see why they did it in this contest:

Quote:

1 Grand Prize Winner:

– Athletic equipment for your child’s school ($5,000 value)

This wouldn't make sense as a prize for a homeschool family.

It's harmless anyway. If I had a child and was homeschooling him/her, Subway's contest certainly wouldn't make me want to change my mind and enroll them in public school.

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tailfins1959
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27 May 2008, 2:02 pm

LoveableNerd wrote:

I'm a big advocate of homeschooling myself, but I can see why they did it in this contest:

Quote:

1 Grand Prize Winner:

– Athletic equipment for your child’s school ($5,000 value)

They could offer an alternative prize or offer it to homeschool associations.

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iamnotaparakeet
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27 May 2008, 2:02 pm

And the reason it couldn't go to a school of their choice or just receive a cash prize of the same value would be?

iamnotaparakeet
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27 May 2008, 2:04 pm

tailfins1959 wrote:

LoveableNerd wrote:

I'm a big advocate of homeschooling myself, but I can see why they did it in this contest:

Quote:

1 Grand Prize Winner:

– Athletic equipment for your child’s school ($5,000 value)

They could offer an alternative prize or offer it to homeschool associations.

Exactly, like the HSLDA could use some more money.

ouinon
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27 May 2008, 2:06 pm

There's a surprising amount of extras/benefits which are not available to homeschoolers.

A lot of museums and galleries offer reduced entry to children in groups of 10 or more.

Bus/train-passes at substantially discounted prices are offered to school children.

Many competitions are limited to school children.

Trips to factories and other interesting industrial/agricultural/work environments are only ever for schoolchildren never for a single child with parent/a couple of families together even.

State financial help paid annually to parents with lower incomes towards the cost of school books, stationery, and other material, is not paid to homeschooling families. etc etc etc.

We just get used to it. And remind ourselves of everything my son gains by not going to school. Tens of thousands of dollars would not be enough to compensate for his having to go to school!

:study:

iamnotaparakeet
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27 May 2008, 2:09 pm

ouinon wrote:

There's a surprising amount of extras/benefits which are not available to homeschoolers.

A lot of museums and galleries offer reduced entry to children in groups of 10 or more.

Bus/train-passes at discount prices are offered to school children.

Many competitions are limited to school children.

Trips to factories and other interesting industrial/agricultural/work environments are only ever for schoolchildren never for a single child with parent.

State financial help paid annually to parents with lower incomes towards the cost of school books, stationery, and other material, is not paid to homeschooling families. etc etc etc.

We just get used to it. And remind ourselves of everything my son gains by not going to school. Tens of thousands of dollars would not be enough to compensate for his having to go to school!

:study:

Would that be the situation in France? I didn't know homeschooling was allowed in Europe anymore.

ouinon
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27 May 2008, 2:45 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Would that be the situation in France? I didn't know homeschooling was allowed in Europe anymore.

It isn't in Germany.

In France it is theoretically legal but increasingly policed and controlled.

In the UK it is still going strong; which is where I might have to go with my son if the pressure here continues.

In Spain and Italy the situation is somewhat ambiguous/confused I believe.

:study:

slowmutant
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27 May 2008, 3:56 pm

Ouinon, why go to such lengths to keep your child out of school? Moving around the world seems a bit much. Would it be so unspeakable to enrol him somewhere?

ouinon
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27 May 2008, 5:24 pm

slowmutant wrote:

Ouinon, why go to such lengths to keep your child out of school?

Because he does not want to go.

Quote:

Moving around the world seems a bit much. Would it be so unspeakable to enrol him somewhere?

My son was born in France, and has lived in France all his life. Although I have travelled before motherhood in most of Europe as far as Turkey, and in South Africa, I have only lived in France since my son's birth. I lived in the UK for the first 35 years of my life, despite being half-german.

So long as my son does not want to go to school I believe it would be unspeakable to make him.

:study:

iamnotaparakeet
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27 May 2008, 7:18 pm

Besides the greater academic freedom, there aren't as many social problems. Direct interaction of parents with their children can be beneficial to both.

monty
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28 May 2008, 8:09 am

If it is a private company that wants to give money, that's their right. If a company gives a lot to the Diabetes foundation, it means they aren't giving that money to other worthy foundations - they decide who and how they want to give. On the other hand, there are a lot of home schooled pupils, and they should have access to public facilities, ie, athletics, libraries, and other things that are taxpayer funded for education.

slowmutant
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28 May 2008, 8:15 am

These homeschooled pupils who want access to public facilities should really just ENROL IN SCHOOL with all the other kids. If the problem is other kids, wear a hazmat suit and carry your own air supply. And bring a Geiger couter to protect from any especially nasty classmates. This is called trying to have it both ways, flanderinos. You cannot havce your cake and eat it to. Kids, go to school or stay at home with Mommy. You can't do both.

Sissy namby-pamby.

Fogman
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28 May 2008, 8:24 am

ouinon wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Would that be the situation in France? I didn't know homeschooling was allowed in Europe anymore.

I know nothing about the rest of Europe, however Germany's law prohibiting home schooling was enacted by the Nazis to ensure that all kids recieved Nazi indoctrination through schooling. --Ironically, the same law is still in force though it's now used to prohibit Nazi indoctrination via homeschooling.

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Chibi_Neko
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28 May 2008, 11:06 am

Well I don't think this is fair at all. They could adjust the prize for homeshooled kids. (I wish I was homeshooled.... the trama of public school haunts me to this day)

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LoveableNerd
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28 May 2008, 11:44 pm

Subway issued an apology to the home schoolers association for the oversight.

Quote:

Regarding your concerns about the Subway contest that excludes home schools from contest eligibility, Scholastic and Subway apologize to all individuals who have taken offense at this. Our intention was never to make independent schooled children feel discriminated against or excluded from this specific promotion.

Throughout the course of the year Scholastic runs a number of contests and sweepstakes that are open to all teachers and students. The eligibility of this contest in particular was solely put in place to award a large group of children with the grand prize of $5,000 worth of athletic equipment. We do however understand how home- schooled children could benefit from this type of prizing and will make sure eligibility is open to everyone in future promotions.

We appreciate your feedback and will make sure a similar situation does not happen in the future.

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