Pizza Hut offers free pizza to students who read a certain number of books while rival Domino's rewards schools with free books if the school community buys pizza from its outlets. Do these deals harm students by commercializing schools, as critics suggest? In an article in Policy Review, Andrew Stark explores the difference between these two arrangements, along the way debunking some myths about the mingling of the corporate world with public education. He suggests that the Pizza Hut arrangement resembles the use of Channel One in schools, where the school offers public space for the company to market its own product to a captive audience. By contrast, the Domino's arrangement relies on the students' and parents' role as private-market consumers. The school community chooses which commodities to purchase and the corporation adopts a philanthropic role, providing a public good. Stark recognizes that these lines are sometimes blurred but admonishes critics who would view all commercialism in schools through a single lens. To read more go to "Pizza Hut, Domino's and the Public Schools" by Andrew Stark, Policy Review, August and September 2001, http://www.policyreview.org/AUG01/stark.html
