Debunking the Middle-Class Myth: Why Diverse Schools Are Good for All Kids [Paperback]

Eileen Gale Kugler (Author), Gary Orfield (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2002

Many parents search for a 'good' school to enroll their children. They look at the school's standardized test scores and check out demographic statistics, but fail to investigate the strengths of these schools that have a vibrant mix of races and cultures. Eileen Gale Kugler offers a unique perspective on what every educator, parent, and community leader should know about reaping the rich harvest of our diverse schools. This book provides guidance on how we can all work together to dispel the myths and nurture the opportunities that these schools offer such as academic challenge and social advantages. Anecdotes from Kugler's personal experience are included as well as information from 80 interviews with key educators, parents, and students. This book stands alone as a resource that pulls all of this information together. Will be of interest to anyone who cares about education. See Wendy Burt-Thomas's interview with author Eileen Kugler at http://askwendy.wordpress.com/?s=kugler

Editorial Reviews

Review

Since critical value judgments can be formulated as early as age eight, it is important that all educators and families recognize the need for our children to function and excel in diverse situations. Diverse classrooms can be the most resourceful, energetic, and respectful collaborations in the country. These are the classrooms that will prepare our students for life. This book emphasizes the fact that we need to be working toward that goal. (John H. Funk )

Parents want to provide their children with the best education possible. Will they be better prepared for life by being isolated or by being exposed to the reality of our diverse population? This book provides valuable insights about some of the myths circulating our society regarding schools highly impacted by minority students. (Isis M. Castro )

A community and civic blueprint for the 21st Century, Debunking the Middle Class Myth: Why Diverse Schools are Good for All Kids is must reading for parents, educators, community leaders, and policy makers who want to move beyond the quick fixes of test scores and standardized education as the sole measures of America's schools. The events of September 11 made us all realize that the 'test' we all face is not the SAT or the ITBS, but the test of life. Eileen Kugler writes convincingly that our public schools are much more than knowledge factories, but the core institution in every community. Our public schools are the affirmative answer to the question: can a coherent, stable, unified culture be created out of the people of diverse traditions, languages, and religions? Kugler's voice is eminent in building these schools. (Arnold F. Fege )

[Kugler's] voice is not only powerful but sincere to the point where it forces readers to confront what is at stake in the future of America and to see for themselves that diverse schools are better schools. (Electronic Journal On Teaching English As A Second Language )

The book is particularly valuable because of the rarity of its voice and its call for parents to rethink the types of environments needed for the future of students in this country. This book is recommended for all parents, teachers, and professors of education who are looking for literature that chronicles health rather than pathology in public education...Essential. (Choice )

[Kugler's] voice is not only powerful but sincere to the point where it forces readers to confront what is at stake in the future of America and to see for themselves that diverse schools are better schools..... (Electronic Journal On Teaching English As A Second Language )

If you want to learn the value of diversity (or if you want to convince parents of that value) pick up a copy of Eileen Kugler's Debunking the Middle Class Myth. It weaves an eloquent and inspiring chronicle of the successes of well-run diverse schools. (American School Board Journal )

Kugler, a national advocate for diverse schools, challenges myths about ethnically, racially, and economically diverse schools and shows what is possible when educators are committed to finding ways to help every child succeed and when students, parents, and community members support the administrators and teachers in their efforts. She lays out a rationale for considering diverse schools among the most desirable, and provides strategies for strengthening diverse schools. (Reference & Research Book News )

Eileen Kugler points out that schools with diverse student populations can provide a first class academic education while also teaching students to be comfortable with personal differences. She performs a great service to the educational community by debunking many of the myths about diverse schools. Excellent reading for everyone interested in quality education. (Denny R. Vincent )

About the Author

Eileen Gale Kugler is president of Kugler Communications and a national advocate for diverse schools.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: R&L Education (September 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810845121
• ISBN-13: 978-0810845121
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,105,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eileen Gale Kugler champions the unique benefits that diversity brings schools, communities and workplaces. Through impassioned keynotes, engaging training, and competent consulting around the world, she challenges audiences to break through society's "myth-perceptions" about race, culture and more, to value and leverage difference of all types.

Eileen's commentaries appear in publications from USA Today and The Washington Post to Educational Leadership, Education Week, Kappan, National PTA's Our Children and The National School Boards Journal. She is a frequent guest on radio and television.

Eileen's commitment to diversity was motivated by the enriched education of her own children at one of the most diverse schools in the nation, with students from wide-ranging cultures and economic backgrounds, hailing from nearly 90 nations. Blending her professional expertise as a communications expert with her volunteer commitment, Eileen worked collaboratively with administrators, faculty, parents, students and community members to rebuild the school's crumbling community support and turn it into a vibrant focal point of its multicultural community.

Today Eileen is a global speaker and consultant, sharing insights on how to recognize the unique benefits that diversity brings to each of us, and strategies to create inclusive environments that value the strengths of every individual. Learn more at www.Embrace Diverse Schools.com

Eileen maintains an active volunteer life. Eileen, along with her husband Larry and daughter Sara - both literacy specialists - volunteer in a school in rural South Africa. On yearly volunteer trips, the Kuglers work to improve student success, including a landmark family engagement program that Eileen led for the community. In August 2010, the Kuglers created a library of 25,000 quality donated books for the school, which previously only had a handful of books. Their efforts were documented in the Washington Post and Voice of America TV. To learn more about Eileen's work in South Africa, see http://www.EmbraceDiverseSchools.com/ EileenKugler/South-Africa

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just say yes ... to public schools, December 19, 2002

By 

Susan Romaine (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Debunking the Middle-Class Myth: Why Diverse Schools Are Good for All Kids (Hardcover)

For anyone interested in the whole debate about public schools vs private schools, this is the book to read. Kugler raises many of the issues/problems surrounding public schools, then thoughtfully and persuasively sheds the myths and makes the case for the rich diversity offered by public school settings. Yes, it's a factual book. But, just as importantly, it's an inspiring story that needs to be shared with parents, educators and policymakers alike. Read it, then help spread its important message: diverse schools are good for all kids, using all kinds of different measures. As a long-time fan of the public schools, I am re-armed and re-energized for the heated debates over this most sensitive topic after having read Debunking the Middle Class Myth.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read!, February 10, 2003

By 

Karen Kapeluck (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Debunking the Middle-Class Myth: Why Diverse Schools Are Good for All Kids (Hardcover)

As an educator who has taught in "well-run diverse schools," I am grateful for Ms. Kugler's important book. Not only does she address, head-on, the myths that poison our thinking about today's diverse public schools but she also articulates the truths which ought inform our decisions about our childrens' schooling. Most importantly, she presents powerful models to those of us who would "reap the rich harvest of our diverse schools." Eileen Kugler has done a tremendous service to public education by writing this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good text for understanding diversity in American schools, June 8, 2003

By 

"globalspirit" (Fairfax, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Debunking the Middle-Class Myth: Why Diverse Schools Are Good for All Kids (Paperback)

Ms. Kugler's text is both inspirational and informative, written in such a way that will help educators, students, parents and others understand and appreciate the diversity of modern American public schools.