Philadelphia Writing Project
Supporting Civically Engaged Argument Writing with Primary Sources
Text Set
School Lunches
States, with the support of the federal government, provide free or reduced price lunches to millions of children in our country. In recent years, some states and districts have provides all children, regardless of family income, with free lunches. In other states and districts, students may be denied a lunch if they owe money for lunches that have already been provided. Students can join the conversation about school lunch both at their school and across the country.
FEATURED PRIMARY SOURCES
TEXT SET
Introduce the Issue
Teachers may introduce one or both of the featured historical primary sources above alongside more current news articles to introduce the issue and jumpstart inquiry.
Benefits of School Lunch. Website Food Research and Action Center
America's School Lunch Crisis Article on school lunch and debt shaming from Vox Digital Magazine (2023).
School Nutrition Association . Website with charts, statistics and graphs.
The School Lunch Paradox. Article from Harvard Public Health. (2023)
Go Deeper
Students may use these texts—or excerpts from these texts—to identify additional perspectives on the issue.
Feeding America. Website with facts, graphs about hunger.
National School Lunch Workshop Section. The Catholic Times.Special Section News article explaining school lunch on a national level. (Chronicling America, 1952).
Pros and cons of packing or purchasing school lunches. Interview about the pros and cons of school lunch located on the Land O' Frost website.
Cafeteria food in the USA is the worst possible lunch. Opinion Article about the limited nutritional value of school lunches.
Additional Planning Resources
Primary Sources
Ericka C. Huggins oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Oakland, California [Black Panther Party breakfast program]. Interview. (Library of Congress, 2016).
Elmer Dixon co-founded the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party with his older brother Aaron Dixon in 1968...He worked to sustain the Party's breakfast program and health clinic. Interview. (University of Washington, c1990).
Classroom Informational Texts
Food for Thought. Readworks
Students' Health and Schools. Readworks
Picture Books/ YA Novels
Lunch From Home by Joshua David Stein. Penguin Random House 2022.
Free Lunch by Rex Ogle. Norton Young Readers 2021.
This website features resources created by educators affiliated with the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP), supported by a Teaching with Primary Sources grant from the Library of Congress.
The following Philadelphia Writing Project teacher consultants contributed to this page: L. Lapina, J. Ross, and J. F. Smith. Additionally, teacher consultant T. Anderson, helped with editing this page.
Some of the resources and approaches referenced on this page were developed by the National Writing Project's (NWP) College, Career, and Community Writers Program.
Teacher Consultants in the NWP Write Now Teacher Studio and members of the Teaching with Primary Sources Teachers Network have provided feedback on and suggestions for this page.
This page was updated 29 September 2024.