SUBWAY sandwich company is running a creative writing contest for kids called the “Every Sandwich Tells a Story Contest.” Children in grades PreK-6 are asked to “write a story that has a beginning, middle and end using one of the provided story starters.” They are encouraged to “Be creative! Let your imagination cook up a story that is as delicious to read as a SUBWAY sandwich is to eat.”
Children may choose from any of four “story starters”…
1.) “The Mysterious Meatball: When the invitation to the Meatball came in the mail…”
2.) “Turkey Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: There was a loud knock on the door, but when Salami Sam opened it…”
3.) “The Race to Red Onion Ranch: Everyone gathered in the center or town for the start of the race except…”
4.) “Nothing Better: The smell of fresh baked bread coming from the store was so good that…”
Indeed, my second and third grade home-schoolers are given a writing assignment similar to these every single day. So the contest not only sounded like fun, but was right up our alley. Then I read the fine print…
“Contest is open to legal US residents, over the age of 18 with children in either elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted.”
WHAT??? Has SUBWAY lost its mind? Children whose parents care enough about their children’s education that they choose to do it themselves aren’t eligible to participate in a creative writing contest? What in the world is SUBWAY afraid of? That homeschool kids might submit entries with all the words spelled correctly, along with the proper use of capitalization and punctuation?
This is simply outrageous. Now, I know this probably isn’t important to those of you who aren’t able to homeschool your own kids…or if you don’t have any school-aged kids. But for the rest of you, HERE is where you can tell SUBWAY exactly how you feel about them barring homeschool children from participating in their creative writing contest. Be creative! Here’s the note I sent…
Dear SUBWAY Executives,
How’s this for a creative writing story starter?
“The Sandwich Shop Sucks: When I found out that SUBWAY’s creative writing contest specifically barred my home-schooled children from participating, I…”
Now here’s how I creatively finished the story:
“…immediately wrote about this outrage and sent it out to some 25,000 of my friends nationwide who subscribe to my daily current events newsletter (www.muthstruths.com) asking them to boycott SUBWAY and spend their money where the corporate ogres don’t discriminate against the children of parents who care so much about the education of their children that they make the sacrifice to do it themselves rather than outsource the responsibility to the government. The End.”
OK, it’s not very long. But I think Jared will get the idea. Helloooooo, Quiznos!
Posted on May 24th, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
Did you notice the spelling mistakes on their website????
Bastket
Untied States
Yes, there’s a good reason why they don’t want homeschooled kids. LOL
I went to the website and read the rules. I think there is a rational reason for excluding homeschoolers. Did you see the First Prize? $5000 in athletic equipment to the school of the winner. The prize itself doesn’t make sense for homeschoolers. Of course, rewarding a kid who writes stories by giving equipment to the jocks out on the playground doesn’t make much sense either. When I wrote to complain, I suggested they alter the rules so that homeschoolers still might receive recognition for writing the best story, but that they win some other material prize, and that they think this through a little better if they sponsor another such contest in the future.
No, that argument doesn’t hold water. As another reader has pointed out, the prize goes to the school. No reason why a winning home-schooler couldn’t donate the prize to a local rec center, Boys & Girls Club, etc.
No reason they couldn’t, but no reason they’d have to, given the current wording. And going on the assumption so many people have these days, that people can’t be trusted to do the right thing, the restriction is not surprising. And remember: there are corporate lawyers at work here, trying to ensure their client doesn’t get sued for something ridiculous. Unfortunately, they just did something else ridiculous instead. But change the nature of the First Prize and the problem goes away.
Chuck I sent this along to my email list too. I also wrote them. I will take lunch Tuesday at quiznos, speaking to the local owner, and telling him/her why they have my business. Thanks as always for keeping us informed.
I guess anyone who doesn’t slurp from the establishment trough is suspect. Quiznos makes better sandwiches anyway.
AMEN! I too was outgraged…. erm, I mean outraged.
When entering the contest… you use one of their “story starters”…
One of your talented home school writers could write using the home school experience… (mine are not interested)
“The Race to Red Onion Ranch
Everyone gathered in the center of town for the start of the race except…”
the home schooled children… because they were not invited… they were being discriminated against by the sandwich franchise…
“The Mysterious Meatball
When the invitation to the Meatball came in the mail…”
it said (not once but twice) if you are a home schooler you can not come to our famous Meatball Ball… rather than tweak our rules to include everyone… we shall exclude the children that are home schooled and ban them from joining our festivities…
“Turkey Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
There was a loud knock on the door, but when Salami Sam opened it…”
he wasn’t surprised to see the Subway Founder Fred DeLuca and his partner, Pete Buck. They pleaded with Sam to forgive them. For they made an uneducated decision with the rules pertaining to the contest. This was not their first mistake… they have admitted to making mistakes in the past… like when starting their business…
Subway’s founders learned quickly from a mistake they made early on, opening in a “crummy location,” according to DeLuca.
Salami Sam told them… “Its okay guys…Mistakes Happen… its how you correct them that is important….”
DO NOT CENSOR ME IF YOU LOVE THE CONSTITUTION
I know who the men were who wrote the Constitution. They weren’t “girly men” who hid behind stupid fake names. I’d be more inclined to allow your dumbass comments on MY blog if you were at least man enough to use your real name.
WILLIAM IS A REAL NAME, GO LOOK IT UP. I PROMISE THERE ARE PLENTY OF WILLIAMS OUT THERE.
YOU THINK I HIDE BEHIND A FAKE NAME, WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD TELL THAT TO “MILKINGMOMMY”. I’M PRETTY SURE THATS NOT HER REAL NAME. I DID A GOOGLE SEARCH AND ALL I GOT WAS PORN. I BELIEVE SHE IS USING IT HIDE HER TRUE LIBERAL IDENTITY!!! INVESTIGATE AND BLOG IT! THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH!!!
“Milkingmommy” isn’t whining like a school-girl. You are. You also apparently aren’t sophisticated enough on the Internet to know it is considered…well, unsophisticated to be “shouting” in all capital letters. And while “William” may be a real name, there are, as you note, “plenty of Williams out there.” Which means you’re still hiding your identity.
I’m not afraid to put my name on my opinions. What are you so afraid of?
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF MR. MUTH?!! WHAT ARE YOUR CRIMES? IF YOU REPENT AND PRAISE LORD XENU YOU MAY BE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE HIM THROW YOU IN A VOLCANO AND BLOW YOU UP WITH A HYDROGEN BOMB!!!
PRAISE XENU!!!
THE ONLY THING I HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF! OH AND SPIDERS. SNAKES TOO, AND WEREWOLVES, SHARKS, DYING ALONE, ZOMBIES, CLOWNS, HEIGHTS, BIG DOGS, ROBOTS WITH HUMAN BRAINS, VAMPIRES, JOHNSON’S WIFE, PARIS HILTON, BIRDFLU, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, GAS PRICES, DEATH BY CHOCOLATE, GNOMES, YELLOW SNOW, DISNEY MOVIES, AIDS, BRITISH DENTISTS, THOR, LOBBYISTS, HILLARY CLINTON, ANTS IN THE PANTS, FOREIGNERS, 80′S MUSIC AND FEAR ITSELF!
[…] Subway’s anti-home school bias. […]
Chuck,
Regarding your on again off again comments with “William”, I had a laugh, at your expense, when you stated that, and I quote, “They [the men you know who wrote the Constitution] weren’t “girly men” who hid behind stupid fake names.”
So Publius was “out of the closet” ?
1.) “Publius” wasn’t a stupiid name. “William the Wealthy Private School Kid” is.
2.) “Publius” was not a collection of writers of the Constitution, but of the Federalist Papers.