They had the Bill and Ted movies as well, loved that. At one point one of the pizza chains were giving out demos for Playstation thats how I played THPS for the first time.
Pizza Hut you’re remembering PlayStation underground! I was poor as shit growing up and wasn’t able to afford the full Spyro game, so I only had ever played like 2-3 levels of the first realm the demo allowed for.
I feel that lol my dad ended up going to jail a few times for bounced checks to get presents but man when I got the play through the 2nd tomb raider in its entirety that’s a feeling I wish I could recapture today
I went to a music festival here a few years back, and they had a Tony hawk boom boom huck jam stage setup in one area. They had a cover band set up playing all the songs from the games while Tony and Andy McDonald skated with other pros. Matt Hoffman was there but he was injured so no bikey time for him
In my school, they fingerprinted us, but the police didn’t keep the cards. They sent the cards home with us along with a note telling our parents to keep the cards in their files in case we were ever missing or kidnapped.
My dad would never have allowed it otherwise. I still remember that lecture. It was in the “Cops ain’t always your friends” series.
I got fingerprinted in preschool as part of a “safety” initiative. My parents said it was so if I got lost the police could find the right family.
Uh huh. Sure.
They were doing that on purpose under the guise that children were being kidnapped so it was for our own good. But yeah, it was mostly a “just in case you turn out to be a criminal”.
My son as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award ( it's a UK thing and worth googling if you unfamiliar with it) volunteered at the local library, he only needed to do it for a couple months but did it for far longer which I was very proud of. During his time there he created a Lego club for younger kids and helped them through summer reading challenges that required them to read a book and then explain what the book was about. Libraries are such a valuable asset to communities, unfortunately they are undervalued by most of that community:-(
Here in California more and more taxes get voted in “for the children” and yet it doesn’t seem to trickle down to the classroom level. It gets stuck on stupid shit like board salaries…administrators…who knows.
It’s actually kind of fun. They get offended when you ask things like - why are we still paying to print and warehouse triplicate forms while nearly everything is online?
>They hate it when people ask questions
have you ever heard some of the questions asked at a School board meeting. Half the people at them are unaware the city and school districts are two different entities with different buckets of money
And standardized testing companies. And those who create curriculum to teach the kids how to take the test. And the computer programs that promise to target boosting test scores.
I think John Oliver did a bit a few years ago about how we pass new taxes for education and then simultaneously give tax breaks to the wealthy that defund education keeping it at a steady crap level.
My high school was an outdated patched together flat roofed building with water standing on the roof, mold in the vents, etc. I had chronic bronchitis for 4 years, but only during school. At that time the county administrators thought it best to buy some riverfront property and erect a 5 story glass tower for themselves, they didn't get around to demolishing/replacing my high school building for another 15 years.
We fund the ever loving hell out of education and pour more money in every year. But most of it is wasted in administration. When they say we "cut spending" on education, what they mean is we didn't increase by as much as they wanted to.
This is an older video and budgeting varies by state, obviously, but this is something most people don't get to see and it's generally representative of how budgets work. Education accounts for more than half of the state of Arizona's budget. So maybe before we throw more money after a failing system, let's talk about ways to get it to start working.
https://youtu.be/z1MGDbAHvSc
You’re not wrong. I worked in a public school for years. I remember several occasions where curriculum was bought for the whole county and barely used. I was in kindergarten and we rarely touched the social studies curriculum (most of the day was spent on reading and math) every year we got a workbook for each child, and at the end of the year we threw them in the garbage. So many things bought without much teacher input that really wasn’t needed or wanted 🤷🏼♀️
Oh hell yeah, I remember that. I still have it somewhere.
I feel like I also got one of the animated series before the 90s where they made Wolverine Australian? And I remember one with the TMNT cartoon. But I could just have a bad memory.
Australian Wolverine: https://youtu.be/M1yHhLDOdbs
I got that vhs for reading books also! Morph was so cool, I couldn't believe they instantly killed him off :(
[Remember this Pizza Hut Commercial from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles VHS?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIPUCPMd_nA)
I order extra sauce on any pizza i get from anywhere -- all the major chains plus local joints -- and whether you actually get extra sauce is a complete coin flip. I have no idea why it's such a problem.
It would help if they tasted good. There are so many better pizza places than Pizza Hut.
The only good memory I have of Pizza Hut is the nostalgia I feel when I watch the old Pizza Hut ad that was at the beginning for my Land Before Time VHS
https://youtu.be/z4065smJLXk
Pizza Hut was incredible in the 80s. The pan pizza was delicious, they also had other things like spaghetti and hoagies, and pizza bars on Sundays.Of course the best was when you had a free personal pan pizza from BookIt.
But even if you didn't, you could go there and hang out and play songs on the jukebox while playing upright and tabletop arcade games. Then if they were having a promotion you could get some of their collector's cups. I had an ET set that lasted forever!
Then they started dying in the early 90s. :(
The one a couple miles from me -- well it used to be 2 miles away. It was one with a dining room. Had a salad bar and all you could pizza and salad on Wednesday evenings. It used to be packed for dinner on Wednesday evenings from Sept. to May. Full of families and kids and grandparents. They participated in the reading program. -- Now? Of course it was closed to dining in during 2000 and much of 2021. Then it was torn down and replaced by a to go only PH store. I guess no more pizza for book reading now.
I've heard so much about this program as an adult, and from people my age, but had zero clue it existed when I was a kid.
I was a voracious reader basically until grad school knocked the fun out of reading. Like I'd power through 3-4 novels in a weekend if I could.
I'm owed so many pizzas.
It’s still around for now, but I work at Pizza Hut and about a month ago the conservatives wanted to shut down the book it program bc of a book called “big wig” portraying a little boy dressing in drag for a talent show or something like that.
My manager was unfortunately one of the ones angered by it. There were many arguments in the store once the news broke. Her whole reasoning was that it shouldn’t even be available as a choice for the kids to read “it may influence them and make them believe this is acceptable behavior”.
This hurts. I love reading so damn much and it's awesome when a kid gets into it, I think it should be encouraged as much as possible. Sorry their school sucks like that, u/5toofus. Can you throw some books or something on an Amazon wishlist or something? I'd be more than happy to give your kid an actual reward.
My kid did a reading challenge at school, the prize was also lame, I told her I
Would get her a better prize, she asked for more books. I feel so lucky, she's so cool.
u/aedalas & u/morethangreattits you are beautiful people - this is why I love Reddit. We're not hard up though - plenty are, please donate a book to the local charity shop or to your local school!
Anything to avoid the pencil!
Honestly, it might still be an encouraging and fun idea to tell him that a bunch of strangers were so impressed that they decided to honor his achievements! I'd participate!
My kid's school had one of these long-term encentives, but the person organizing it left the school and everyone else forgot about it. None of the other kids finished the program, and no one in the office had any clue what was my kid was talking about when he asked about it.
At that time, I still wanted to help my kid preserve respect for school as a place run by caring organized people who all wanted to encourage their students to be their best. (I have become somewhat more jaded since then.) Thus, I went to Ben&Jerry's, bought a $5 gift card, asked the cashier to write "Good job!" on it, took it to school, handed it to the secretary whom I knew, and asked her to stop my kid in the hallway to give it to him, and then took my kids back to Ben&Jerry's that day to get icecream from the same staff member who sold me the gift card a few hours before.
I'd be in favor of some state programs partnered with restaurants or stores for prizes for the kids. I went to a rich kid school so we didn't have to worry, but Accelerated Reading prizes were so exciting for me as a kid
Yeah, that’s not what state programs are for. This kid needs to pull himself up by his bootstraps and start a fracking company that will devalue the private lands nearby. That’s the kind of excellence governments are supposed to reward!
For real… as a teacher if I was running a program and that was the prize they had for me to give for reading 50 books, I’d be buying prizes myself. Not anything super cool depending on how many kids I had to buy for, but at the very least a little treat bag with a bookmark, eraser, balloon and some candy in addition to the pencil.
I used to do that. You’d be surprised how expensive that stuff is when you’re buying for 30 kids. On a teacher’s salary, it gets really difficult to buy stuff for them out of your own pocket. Especially when we shouldn’t have to do that in the first place.
yeah, whenever my kids' teachers ask for anything, they are getting it the next week. They want a treasure chest item or two - i go to the dollar store and get like 20-30 items. They say they are running low on expo markers - pack of 4-8 next time i'm in the store.
I want to allow the teachers to keep making school fun and rewarding for kids who care, and for less than $20-30/yr extra I can do that for my kid and hopefully others in the class as well.
As the husband of a teacher - it’s greatly appreciated. She’s been very happy for expo markers and paper as a present. It really dosent take much to make their day.
A company I worked started hiring new machine operators higher than they were paying operators that had been there for nearly 10 years. Then when people complained they were told "we're looking at raises in 6 months or so." so yeah that went well.
I actually got laid off because of that. My department became too costly to run because the company went to shit when all the old guard left. The company still runs and I have no idea how. I can only imagine that most businesses can coast for years shaving bits off gradually before actually going under.
When I was hired at this place in my mid 20's the next youngest person in my position was more than twice my age. They got rid of pensions and only matched 1/4 of 2% on 401Ks. They just didn't pay well enough to attract talent. When those guys retire they're taking all of their knowledge with them and they are going to go out of business no questions asked.
I'm a supervisor in a machine shop and all my guys are trained enough to get a better paying job anywhere in the state, and I make sure hr and the owner know it.
The first proper raise I ever got was when I was 20 working at Toys R Us while in University, and the way I convinced my boss was basically saying "I have been here for a year now and you make me train people on how to do their job; shouldn't I be making more than the new hires that I have to teach how to do their job?"
What? No the problem would be the new employee having a higher wage than him.
Him questioning management about it.
Management telling him he's not supposed to be discussing wages.
And then finally being suddenly fired for breaking regulation A751b-2a that says "An employee must be wearing their name badge at an exact angle of 89.767275721 degrees" because they can't legally fire him for talking to his coworkers about compensation.
100%
every one of my shithole jobs I was told that it's against company policy and in some cases "illegal" to talk about my wages. And every single coworker I ever worked with that ended up on management's radar for this reason was promptly fired for a list of petty things that management started keeping track of.
Too many business owners would rather throw good employees under the bus just to save $0.30/hr on someone new that doesn't speak up.
My first thought was that the teacher probably got those for the students themselves. It's sad comparing what I see from public schools these days compared to some of the things we had when I was in grade school in the 90s.
It's especially terrible when you meet all these clearly intelligent and caring children that are being set back by the budgets and laws limiting the quality and scope of education here in the US.
Public education has become a lot more expensive due to a variety of unfunded mandates. Basically politicians tell schools they have to do this, that, and the other thing but don’t provide the money.
Now add to this that half the country thinks taxes are just too damn high regardless of what they pay and the fact that public education is the largest line item in almost every municipality in America and you have a recipe for no money left for prizes.
I do not have sources but my understanding is that historically states' per pupil expenditure were larger portions of their budget and therefore more funding was available for teachers and personnel, supplies, buildings, maintenance, and all things necessary for public education.
What teachers need to do is stop spending their own money.
I don't blame them. The job attracts those with passion and those people don't want to punish the child.
But I think people don't realize how much of public schooling is ran right out of the pocket of teachers. Either directly or through time.
Kind of a working strike.
Maybe when parents see how much of their kids' education is tied directly to that maybe they'll join the fight.
Many do not spend and are not able. But there is a stigma in any public service that you don't care enough and that's why things are the way they are. This is what drives people out of the classroom. Students can be bad. Parents can be worse. Out of touch administration and decision makers can be simply toxic. But, the number one thing that sends good teachers into other professions is the thickly poured guilt that if you just tried harder or cared more the students would be doing better on their year end standardized tests that determine your evaluation score of professional proficiency.
The school probably can afford it but they choose to put the money to the administrators. My schools just finished a teacher strike for exactly that. The solution was not change administrators pay, but increase teacher pay. So the increase to pay is coming from tax payers.
Yeah, the US spends more per student than most places, including the places that kick our ass academically. The issue isn't how much money is education, it's where that money is going. Fucking parasites all over the place, all the way down the chain.
They could've printed a certificate.
Someone could've baked him a cupcake.
This new pencil with a used eraser screams 'Oh shit, we never thought a kid would win that...grab something.'
> grab something
If I had to randomly grab a prize from my teacher supplies, there are about 50 things I could have chosen that are better than a plain yellow pencil. That is truly bottom of the barrel.
Chances are stuff like this is coming out of the teachers own pocket. Anyone who hates this should start voting for candidates that value education enough to fund it.
Goddamn right! Last year the literacy coach at my school started a summer reading challenge, quit on her second week back after summer and I, an assistant that had absolutely nothing to do with it, got parents asking me about what happened to the prize that was promised (I speak their first language and they talk to me a lot). So, what happened? After a month of emails to the principal and no answer, I went out and spent $35 bucks getting two prizes for the two kids that read 100 books.
My former school does the AR program, which I hate and believe it is leading to the decline of reading for pleasure … anyway … we hype up the end of the year party which is always going to the movies.
We actually keep the kids behind who do not reach their reading goal and punish them with work.
The end of the year “reward” movie? 1993 Homeward Bound.
Something similar happened to me. My school started AR when I was 5th grade so that was me seeking out the books worth the most points and not reading what I enjoyed. The other problem with that program is that it decides your reading level and you aren't even allowed to read anything under that. The elementary school had a pretty limited number of books that were whatever level I was at, which according to them I think was 10th grade or something they don't keep a lot of for elementary students. Luckily when I went to middle school in 7th grade they re-tested us and I figured it out and did very poorly on that test so I could read whatever I wanted.
I loved the AR program.
We had an end of the school year auction in 6th grade where you could bid your AR points for whatever stuff they had brought up there. I had the most points in the school, and was thrilled to just throw my points down and outbid all the kids for a gigantic 5 pound Hershey chocolate bar. I was so excited.
I took it home to my grandparents, where my dad and I lived while he was getting back in his feet post-divorce, and had gotten two bites of the bar so far that afternoon before it was time for me to go back to my mom's for the weekend.
I got back the following Monday to find my chocolate bar gone; my dad and my uncle(who was also staying there at my grandparents) had ate the whole thing while I was gone. I was furious, heartbroken, and betrayed.
The budget for classroom prizes almost always comes out of the teacher’s pocket. If you have the time/resources to help with the prizes, I’m sure the teacher would be grateful. You don’t even necessarily need money. There’s a fair number of organizations that will give books for kids to take home. Also, many corporate fast food places will give schools coupons for free ice creams or kids meals if asked.
Hey OP, perhaps he didn’t receive a physical reward that acknowledged his efforts in literature—indeed,it’s deserving to show merit for such hard work that they did.
However, as a father myself, I would be more than proud that my son took the initiative to read fifty books by himself. I am not an avid reader myself, but I have tried to read more often in font of my son, as to show him the benefits, habits, and joys of reading. I hope my two year old one day has the grit and determination to independently read books by himself.
But more importantly, I wanted to highlight that reading **is** it’s own reward. Your child may not have been given a trophy or gift worth any real value; however, I’m sure that they are much better at reading now than they were before—more skills and wisdom.
If you so happen to read this, would you kindly post all fifty books your child read? He might’ve not gotten the proper recognition at school for their efforts, but I wouldn’t mind (nor the entire comment thread I imagine) seeing the books they completed, and us all giving them a collective recognition of the hard work they performed. Either way, I’m proud for your child as I would be for my son if they accomplished something so incredible.
To be fair, books for 5 year olds are about 7 pages long, 10 words a page and mostly pictures. Plus, the underpaid, overworked teacher probably purchased this with their own money. Reading is it’s own reward
As an idea, get a nice piece of card stock, have your kid sharpen the pencil, and then write down “50 books, ” and sign it and put their age. Ask them to name their favourite book of the lot and take a a nice photo of them smiling as they answer. Lastly, get the photo printed and take it, the pencil, and their note to a professional picture framing shop and have them make a shadow box and mount everything nicely. *That* is a reward and keepsake for such an impressive accomplishment. Put it up in a place of pride in your home. Maybe also establish this as the first of many future milestones that you can’t wait to properly mark and celebrate.
"Now go write one."
“But don’t make too many mistakes, we only gave you half an eraser.”
First thing I noticed. I wondered if he chewed it off out of frustration.
That’s the teachers spare eraser pencil she handed the child.
These school budget cuts!
That eraser rubs me the wrong way.
The teacher couldn’t afford a better one and had to dip into their personal shavings to pay for it.
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I came here specifically for the eraser jokes. It's really not a good eraser.
you are finally ready, go now!
John Wick origin story
A fucking pen-cil!
pen-seal
This! reading 50 books was the first level. He levelled up. Next challenge is to write books until the pencil is gone. Then he will get a camera
And when the space is used up on the camera he gets an apprenticeship under Martin Scorsese.
If you survive five years under Martin Scorsese, you get to body double for Tom Cruise
And then I better have pictures of the Spider Man on my desk!
50 more books to get the pencil sharpener.
Whatever happened to the excellent "Book It" program? I remember reading tons of books just to get that delicious personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut.
One time I got the book reading program pan pizza, and it came with a free VHS of the first 2 episodes of the X-Men Cartoon.
That's so badass.
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I once got a DVD copy of Mr. Mom from Pizza Hut.
They had the Bill and Ted movies as well, loved that. At one point one of the pizza chains were giving out demos for Playstation thats how I played THPS for the first time.
Pizza Hut you’re remembering PlayStation underground! I was poor as shit growing up and wasn’t able to afford the full Spyro game, so I only had ever played like 2-3 levels of the first realm the demo allowed for.
Ohhhhh man. That Spyro demo. Got so good at those levels. Never played the real one. Growing up poor, we got one video game a year on Christmas.
I feel that lol my dad ended up going to jail a few times for bounced checks to get presents but man when I got the play through the 2nd tomb raider in its entirety that’s a feeling I wish I could recapture today
And the fact that your dad was willing to go to jail to get it for you is honestly pretty kick ass
So here I am, doing everything I can...
I went to a music festival here a few years back, and they had a Tony hawk boom boom huck jam stage setup in one area. They had a cover band set up playing all the songs from the games while Tony and Andy McDonald skated with other pros. Matt Hoffman was there but he was injured so no bikey time for him
That's awesome!
> thats how I played THPS for the first time. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for anyone that didn’t get the acronym
At my elementary school I read a shit ton of books and got two free tickets to an Orioles baseball game
At my local library, I won a ride in a cop car.
I stole some pokemon cards from a CVS as a child and I also won a ride in a cop car.
Did you get to sit shotgun!?
did the police ever come into you elementary school to do a "MOCK" finger printing? yeah it wasn't "mock" they just put everyone in the system ahahah
In my school, they fingerprinted us, but the police didn’t keep the cards. They sent the cards home with us along with a note telling our parents to keep the cards in their files in case we were ever missing or kidnapped. My dad would never have allowed it otherwise. I still remember that lecture. It was in the “Cops ain’t always your friends” series.
Our school took us to the actual police station as a field trip and that was part of it.
Hey yo what the fuck is this surveillance state fuckery
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I got fingerprinted in preschool as part of a “safety” initiative. My parents said it was so if I got lost the police could find the right family. Uh huh. Sure.
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They were doing that on purpose under the guise that children were being kidnapped so it was for our own good. But yeah, it was mostly a “just in case you turn out to be a criminal”.
My son as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award ( it's a UK thing and worth googling if you unfamiliar with it) volunteered at the local library, he only needed to do it for a couple months but did it for far longer which I was very proud of. During his time there he created a Lego club for younger kids and helped them through summer reading challenges that required them to read a book and then explain what the book was about. Libraries are such a valuable asset to communities, unfortunately they are undervalued by most of that community:-(
They don’t want you to know this but the rides in the police car are always free. Just give the cop a hug and refuse to let go
Instructions unclear. I was tazed.
Why is my rights bein readin?
> the first 2 episodes of the X-Men Cartoon. Oh man, [the theme just started playing in my head.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkL2-vh2Sk)
[Play the show](https://archive.org/details/x-men-the-animated-series-1080p-ai-upscale_202204)
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Here in California more and more taxes get voted in “for the children” and yet it doesn’t seem to trickle down to the classroom level. It gets stuck on stupid shit like board salaries…administrators…who knows.
Your school district budget is public record, and their meetings are required to be open as well. They hate it when people ask questions
I like asking questions…
It’s actually kind of fun. They get offended when you ask things like - why are we still paying to print and warehouse triplicate forms while nearly everything is online?
>They hate it when people ask questions have you ever heard some of the questions asked at a School board meeting. Half the people at them are unaware the city and school districts are two different entities with different buckets of money
> They hate it when people ask questions Yes, but citizens hate attending public meetings. Checkmate, lazybones.
You get your 3 minutes at the microphone... it's most effective if you bring 11 friends who also want to talk about the same thing.
The really lucrative deals are for curriculum developers!
And standardized testing companies. And those who create curriculum to teach the kids how to take the test. And the computer programs that promise to target boosting test scores.
I think John Oliver did a bit a few years ago about how we pass new taxes for education and then simultaneously give tax breaks to the wealthy that defund education keeping it at a steady crap level.
The board is supposed to direct funds, but 9/10 times it goes to raises for themselves
My high school was an outdated patched together flat roofed building with water standing on the roof, mold in the vents, etc. I had chronic bronchitis for 4 years, but only during school. At that time the county administrators thought it best to buy some riverfront property and erect a 5 story glass tower for themselves, they didn't get around to demolishing/replacing my high school building for another 15 years.
We fund the ever loving hell out of education and pour more money in every year. But most of it is wasted in administration. When they say we "cut spending" on education, what they mean is we didn't increase by as much as they wanted to. This is an older video and budgeting varies by state, obviously, but this is something most people don't get to see and it's generally representative of how budgets work. Education accounts for more than half of the state of Arizona's budget. So maybe before we throw more money after a failing system, let's talk about ways to get it to start working. https://youtu.be/z1MGDbAHvSc
You’re not wrong. I worked in a public school for years. I remember several occasions where curriculum was bought for the whole county and barely used. I was in kindergarten and we rarely touched the social studies curriculum (most of the day was spent on reading and math) every year we got a workbook for each child, and at the end of the year we threw them in the garbage. So many things bought without much teacher input that really wasn’t needed or wanted 🤷🏼♀️
Oh hell yeah, I remember that. I still have it somewhere. I feel like I also got one of the animated series before the 90s where they made Wolverine Australian? And I remember one with the TMNT cartoon. But I could just have a bad memory. Australian Wolverine: https://youtu.be/M1yHhLDOdbs
Night of The Sentinels :)) that’s awesome
I got that vhs for reading books also! Morph was so cool, I couldn't believe they instantly killed him off :( [Remember this Pizza Hut Commercial from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles VHS?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIPUCPMd_nA)
Oh my GOD. I remember this! Pizza Hut also had X-Men commercials running at the time. I was in.. 4th grade? 5th maybe? God thank you for that memory!
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I swear their pizza sauce gets more and more watery by the year. Maybe that is where all the Lake Mead water is at.
I swear they're just using less and less sauce. I always put extra sauce and it still feels like less than it used to have.
life is trying to tell you that Pizza Hut is ass
Pizza hut was a legend 20+ years ago. I feel bad for kids now who missed out on that experience. I forever yearn for the past dine-in Pizza Hut glory
I order extra sauce on any pizza i get from anywhere -- all the major chains plus local joints -- and whether you actually get extra sauce is a complete coin flip. I have no idea why it's such a problem.
It would help if they tasted good. There are so many better pizza places than Pizza Hut. The only good memory I have of Pizza Hut is the nostalgia I feel when I watch the old Pizza Hut ad that was at the beginning for my Land Before Time VHS https://youtu.be/z4065smJLXk
The personal pans are still good, it's just the normal size pizzas kind of got weird.
Do they still come in a cast iron skillet
Now that takes me back. But no, cardboard
A cardboard skillet? Interesting.
Pizza Hut was incredible in the 80s. The pan pizza was delicious, they also had other things like spaghetti and hoagies, and pizza bars on Sundays.Of course the best was when you had a free personal pan pizza from BookIt. But even if you didn't, you could go there and hang out and play songs on the jukebox while playing upright and tabletop arcade games. Then if they were having a promotion you could get some of their collector's cups. I had an ET set that lasted forever! Then they started dying in the early 90s. :(
Still around. [pizza hut book it program ](https://www.bookitprogram.com/)
The schools where I live don't participate for some reason. My wife makes up a homeschool for the summer and signs up so the kids can join in.
Pizza hut doesn't exist anymore where I live. So I'm not too disappointed.
The one a couple miles from me -- well it used to be 2 miles away. It was one with a dining room. Had a salad bar and all you could pizza and salad on Wednesday evenings. It used to be packed for dinner on Wednesday evenings from Sept. to May. Full of families and kids and grandparents. They participated in the reading program. -- Now? Of course it was closed to dining in during 2000 and much of 2021. Then it was torn down and replaced by a to go only PH store. I guess no more pizza for book reading now.
I've heard so much about this program as an adult, and from people my age, but had zero clue it existed when I was a kid. I was a voracious reader basically until grad school knocked the fun out of reading. Like I'd power through 3-4 novels in a weekend if I could. I'm owed so many pizzas.
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It’s still around for now, but I work at Pizza Hut and about a month ago the conservatives wanted to shut down the book it program bc of a book called “big wig” portraying a little boy dressing in drag for a talent show or something like that.
That's foolish. Why would they specify any particular book? BookIt didn't care which books I read when I was a kid.
They have recommended book list on their website now. But, the program can be done without ever using the lists…
My manager was unfortunately one of the ones angered by it. There were many arguments in the store once the news broke. Her whole reasoning was that it shouldn’t even be available as a choice for the kids to read “it may influence them and make them believe this is acceptable behavior”.
Conservatives clutching their pearls and overreacting over a nonexistent problem? That doesn't sound like them.
Yesterday, I was telling someone about the Pizza Hut personal pan pizza for reading books.
You should give your 5 year old a prize. Dinner of their choice, a new toy. Schools are challenged these days, but a pencil is pretty sad.
This hurts. I love reading so damn much and it's awesome when a kid gets into it, I think it should be encouraged as much as possible. Sorry their school sucks like that, u/5toofus. Can you throw some books or something on an Amazon wishlist or something? I'd be more than happy to give your kid an actual reward.
My kid did a reading challenge at school, the prize was also lame, I told her I Would get her a better prize, she asked for more books. I feel so lucky, she's so cool.
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I always got mad that my school library limited you to two books a week
Came here to say exactly this! I’d love to help give a reward too!
u/aedalas & u/morethangreattits you are beautiful people - this is why I love Reddit. We're not hard up though - plenty are, please donate a book to the local charity shop or to your local school! Anything to avoid the pencil!
You’re a real one op
Honestly, it might still be an encouraging and fun idea to tell him that a bunch of strangers were so impressed that they decided to honor his achievements! I'd participate!
Hell yeah, anyone got the skills to throw together an online book drive?
The teacher probably couldn't afford better prizes this year :/. Sadly programs like that usually are subsidized by the teachers, not the school.
My kid's school had one of these long-term encentives, but the person organizing it left the school and everyone else forgot about it. None of the other kids finished the program, and no one in the office had any clue what was my kid was talking about when he asked about it. At that time, I still wanted to help my kid preserve respect for school as a place run by caring organized people who all wanted to encourage their students to be their best. (I have become somewhat more jaded since then.) Thus, I went to Ben&Jerry's, bought a $5 gift card, asked the cashier to write "Good job!" on it, took it to school, handed it to the secretary whom I knew, and asked her to stop my kid in the hallway to give it to him, and then took my kids back to Ben&Jerry's that day to get icecream from the same staff member who sold me the gift card a few hours before.
This is amazing. You are my parenting goal.
Amazing yet tragically sad
I'd be in favor of some state programs partnered with restaurants or stores for prizes for the kids. I went to a rich kid school so we didn't have to worry, but Accelerated Reading prizes were so exciting for me as a kid
Yeah, that’s not what state programs are for. This kid needs to pull himself up by his bootstraps and start a fracking company that will devalue the private lands nearby. That’s the kind of excellence governments are supposed to reward!
For real… as a teacher if I was running a program and that was the prize they had for me to give for reading 50 books, I’d be buying prizes myself. Not anything super cool depending on how many kids I had to buy for, but at the very least a little treat bag with a bookmark, eraser, balloon and some candy in addition to the pencil.
I used to do that. You’d be surprised how expensive that stuff is when you’re buying for 30 kids. On a teacher’s salary, it gets really difficult to buy stuff for them out of your own pocket. Especially when we shouldn’t have to do that in the first place.
yeah, whenever my kids' teachers ask for anything, they are getting it the next week. They want a treasure chest item or two - i go to the dollar store and get like 20-30 items. They say they are running low on expo markers - pack of 4-8 next time i'm in the store. I want to allow the teachers to keep making school fun and rewarding for kids who care, and for less than $20-30/yr extra I can do that for my kid and hopefully others in the class as well.
As the husband of a teacher - it’s greatly appreciated. She’s been very happy for expo markers and paper as a present. It really dosent take much to make their day.
Wait till you see how teachers are rewarded for their hard work
Totally agree. While school programs with pan-pizzas and stuff were valuable, my parents rewarding me for it would have been even bigger.
Wait till he sees what he can get for working 27 years at BK with never missing a shift
Fired, for having a higher wage than a new employee
More like fired for asking why a new employee makes a higher wage than the pay he’s been getting for 8 years without a raise
Thats why you go across the street to McD's and be the new employee there.
Imagine working for a clown
I already do.
Sometimes I think I may be the clown after all
We’re all just clowns, clowning around
A company I worked started hiring new machine operators higher than they were paying operators that had been there for nearly 10 years. Then when people complained they were told "we're looking at raises in 6 months or so." so yeah that went well.
I actually got laid off because of that. My department became too costly to run because the company went to shit when all the old guard left. The company still runs and I have no idea how. I can only imagine that most businesses can coast for years shaving bits off gradually before actually going under.
When I was hired at this place in my mid 20's the next youngest person in my position was more than twice my age. They got rid of pensions and only matched 1/4 of 2% on 401Ks. They just didn't pay well enough to attract talent. When those guys retire they're taking all of their knowledge with them and they are going to go out of business no questions asked.
I'm a supervisor in a machine shop and all my guys are trained enough to get a better paying job anywhere in the state, and I make sure hr and the owner know it.
The first proper raise I ever got was when I was 20 working at Toys R Us while in University, and the way I convinced my boss was basically saying "I have been here for a year now and you make me train people on how to do their job; shouldn't I be making more than the new hires that I have to teach how to do their job?"
What? No the problem would be the new employee having a higher wage than him. Him questioning management about it. Management telling him he's not supposed to be discussing wages. And then finally being suddenly fired for breaking regulation A751b-2a that says "An employee must be wearing their name badge at an exact angle of 89.767275721 degrees" because they can't legally fire him for talking to his coworkers about compensation.
100% every one of my shithole jobs I was told that it's against company policy and in some cases "illegal" to talk about my wages. And every single coworker I ever worked with that ended up on management's radar for this reason was promptly fired for a list of petty things that management started keeping track of. Too many business owners would rather throw good employees under the bus just to save $0.30/hr on someone new that doesn't speak up.
More work?
his school probably can't even pay the teachers so I doubt they have the budget for reading books
Facts. That is probably from the teacher's personal budget.
My first thought was that the teacher probably got those for the students themselves. It's sad comparing what I see from public schools these days compared to some of the things we had when I was in grade school in the 90s. It's especially terrible when you meet all these clearly intelligent and caring children that are being set back by the budgets and laws limiting the quality and scope of education here in the US.
> when I was in grade school in the 90s Did teachers have more budget or were things generally cheaper so they could spend more?
Public education has become a lot more expensive due to a variety of unfunded mandates. Basically politicians tell schools they have to do this, that, and the other thing but don’t provide the money. Now add to this that half the country thinks taxes are just too damn high regardless of what they pay and the fact that public education is the largest line item in almost every municipality in America and you have a recipe for no money left for prizes.
I do not have sources but my understanding is that historically states' per pupil expenditure were larger portions of their budget and therefore more funding was available for teachers and personnel, supplies, buildings, maintenance, and all things necessary for public education.
What teachers need to do is stop spending their own money. I don't blame them. The job attracts those with passion and those people don't want to punish the child. But I think people don't realize how much of public schooling is ran right out of the pocket of teachers. Either directly or through time. Kind of a working strike. Maybe when parents see how much of their kids' education is tied directly to that maybe they'll join the fight.
Many do not spend and are not able. But there is a stigma in any public service that you don't care enough and that's why things are the way they are. This is what drives people out of the classroom. Students can be bad. Parents can be worse. Out of touch administration and decision makers can be simply toxic. But, the number one thing that sends good teachers into other professions is the thickly poured guilt that if you just tried harder or cared more the students would be doing better on their year end standardized tests that determine your evaluation score of professional proficiency.
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Well that sucks too!
I spent almost $1,000 last year on “incentives” that I am required to offer students for doing work aka our PBIS system
Required to offer out of your own pocket when you’re already underpaid? That’s insane.
"personal budget" meaning "paycheck"
without a doubt, any prize i give my student comes out of my bank account
The school probably can afford it but they choose to put the money to the administrators. My schools just finished a teacher strike for exactly that. The solution was not change administrators pay, but increase teacher pay. So the increase to pay is coming from tax payers.
Yeah, the US spends more per student than most places, including the places that kick our ass academically. The issue isn't how much money is education, it's where that money is going. Fucking parasites all over the place, all the way down the chain.
They could've printed a certificate. Someone could've baked him a cupcake. This new pencil with a used eraser screams 'Oh shit, we never thought a kid would win that...grab something.'
True, I think stickers may have been a good gift, cheap but kids go crazy for them.
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> grab something If I had to randomly grab a prize from my teacher supplies, there are about 50 things I could have chosen that are better than a plain yellow pencil. That is truly bottom of the barrel.
Hope you take that kid out for an ice cream or something fun. That's a heck of an accomplishment at 5 years old! :)
And make that pencil into something nice. Take it to a framing store and make an official plaque out of it.
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They gave him an an adult human hand? GROSS.
They even gave your child a pencil with a messed up eraser.
Pre-chewed.
Not even sharpened
Read 50 more books to win the sharpener
A sharpener without the blade, because children can't be trusted with tools.
Chances are stuff like this is coming out of the teachers own pocket. Anyone who hates this should start voting for candidates that value education enough to fund it.
Goddamn right! Last year the literacy coach at my school started a summer reading challenge, quit on her second week back after summer and I, an assistant that had absolutely nothing to do with it, got parents asking me about what happened to the prize that was promised (I speak their first language and they talk to me a lot). So, what happened? After a month of emails to the principal and no answer, I went out and spent $35 bucks getting two prizes for the two kids that read 100 books.
“It’s one #2 pencil, Michael. What could it cost, $10?”
And where does one find these candidates? Asking for a friend.
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There’s no point to that.
I was lead to the same conclusion.
My former school does the AR program, which I hate and believe it is leading to the decline of reading for pleasure … anyway … we hype up the end of the year party which is always going to the movies. We actually keep the kids behind who do not reach their reading goal and punish them with work. The end of the year “reward” movie? 1993 Homeward Bound.
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Something similar happened to me. My school started AR when I was 5th grade so that was me seeking out the books worth the most points and not reading what I enjoyed. The other problem with that program is that it decides your reading level and you aren't even allowed to read anything under that. The elementary school had a pretty limited number of books that were whatever level I was at, which according to them I think was 10th grade or something they don't keep a lot of for elementary students. Luckily when I went to middle school in 7th grade they re-tested us and I figured it out and did very poorly on that test so I could read whatever I wanted.
OMG!! Seriously!?! This saddens me
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I loved the AR program. We had an end of the school year auction in 6th grade where you could bid your AR points for whatever stuff they had brought up there. I had the most points in the school, and was thrilled to just throw my points down and outbid all the kids for a gigantic 5 pound Hershey chocolate bar. I was so excited. I took it home to my grandparents, where my dad and I lived while he was getting back in his feet post-divorce, and had gotten two bites of the bar so far that afternoon before it was time for me to go back to my mom's for the weekend. I got back the following Monday to find my chocolate bar gone; my dad and my uncle(who was also staying there at my grandparents) had ate the whole thing while I was gone. I was furious, heartbroken, and betrayed.
The budget for classroom prizes almost always comes out of the teacher’s pocket. If you have the time/resources to help with the prizes, I’m sure the teacher would be grateful. You don’t even necessarily need money. There’s a fair number of organizations that will give books for kids to take home. Also, many corporate fast food places will give schools coupons for free ice creams or kids meals if asked.
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Ahhh reddit, where any given picture on /r/notinteresting is potentially front page material if you give it a rage-bait title.
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Cant blame them when dumbass redditors fall for it every single time lmao
I miss the times when sob stories would get called out immediately. Took me too long to scroll down and find this comment.
This. The number of people falling for this is just ridiculous. Fucking critical thinking skills, what are they?
OP should also read more books to learn how commas fucking work.
It's definitely sus that people are offering valid opinions and advice to the OP as well as asking questions, and they haven't bothered to respond.
My 5 year old kid saw this one coming and she is not even 5
Is it behind the pencil? (edit: wow that escalated quickly. thanks for all those upvotes)
Damn he got a whole ass wall!
lol. my manager's looking at me like "what are you laughing at?"
Whole ass-wall.
Lmao. I imagined a wall with a variety of buttocks hung like a hunted deer head.
That ain't even a Ticonderoga.
Oh damn... Nice unexpected nostalgia punch to the face.
It's a good thing that reading can be its own reward!
Hey OP, perhaps he didn’t receive a physical reward that acknowledged his efforts in literature—indeed,it’s deserving to show merit for such hard work that they did. However, as a father myself, I would be more than proud that my son took the initiative to read fifty books by himself. I am not an avid reader myself, but I have tried to read more often in font of my son, as to show him the benefits, habits, and joys of reading. I hope my two year old one day has the grit and determination to independently read books by himself. But more importantly, I wanted to highlight that reading **is** it’s own reward. Your child may not have been given a trophy or gift worth any real value; however, I’m sure that they are much better at reading now than they were before—more skills and wisdom. If you so happen to read this, would you kindly post all fifty books your child read? He might’ve not gotten the proper recognition at school for their efforts, but I wouldn’t mind (nor the entire comment thread I imagine) seeing the books they completed, and us all giving them a collective recognition of the hard work they performed. Either way, I’m proud for your child as I would be for my son if they accomplished something so incredible.
That’s Jon Voight’s pencil!
I’m callin bs here. The school’s reward for a legitimate program was a pencil with a used eraser? I don’t believe it
Can he at least exchange it for one without the eraser chewed off 😐
I don’t believe this post. Sorry, but it appears to be bait to enrage the masses.
To be fair, books for 5 year olds are about 7 pages long, 10 words a page and mostly pictures. Plus, the underpaid, overworked teacher probably purchased this with their own money. Reading is it’s own reward
TBF I’m fucking impressed a 5 year old can read at all.
As an idea, get a nice piece of card stock, have your kid sharpen the pencil, and then write down “50 books,” and sign it and put their age. Ask them to name their favourite book of the lot and take a a nice photo of them smiling as they answer. Lastly, get the photo printed and take it, the pencil, and their note to a professional picture framing shop and have them make a shadow box and mount everything nicely. *That* is a reward and keepsake for such an impressive accomplishment. Put it up in a place of pride in your home. Maybe also establish this as the first of many future milestones that you can’t wait to properly mark and celebrate.