Surge in Free School Lunches Reflects Economic Crisis - NYTimes.com

Surge in Free School Lunches Reflects Economic Crisis - NYTimes.com: Among the first to call attention to the increases were Department of Education officials who use subsidized lunch rates as a poverty indicator in federal testing. This month, in releasing results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, they noted that the proportion of the nation’s fourth graders enrolled in the lunch program had climbed to 52 percent from 49 percent in 2009, crossing a symbolic watershed.

That's more than half of the country's fourth graders living in poverty in the United States. Granted our definition of poverty is unique to us, but it is still relevant. I've stopped calling this country developed; we're caught somewhere between the first and second worlds.