Each day we make judgments in our business and personal lives about the value of others. We don’t make these decisions in a pristine vacuum but rather based on our own experiences and influences.
Each day we make judgments in our business and personal lives about the value of others. We don’t make these decisions in a pristine vacuum, but rather based on our own experiences and influences. Our complex individual culture—an interconnected web of factors ranging from our religion, race and ethnicity to where we grew up, our family structure and our gender role—is the prism through which we view the capabilities of others. These assumptions, whether conscious or unconscious, limit our own growth, as well the growth of other people. To break through these biases, we each need to be conscious of them and reflect on the origins of our attitudes about “the other.” When we move beyond our own prism and seek wisdom from everyone we come in contact with, no matter their background or status, we grow —and so do our organizations and society at large.Eileen Gale Kugler is a global speaker and consultant on the unique benefits that diversity brings to schools, communities and worksites —and strategies to strengthen them. She is author of the award-winning Debunking the Middle Class Myth: Why Diverse Schools are Good for All Kids and executive editor of the new Innovative Voices in Education: Engaging Diverse Communities. Eileen’s articles and commentaries appear in wide-ranging publications, including USA Today and the Washington Post, Educational Leadership, and Education Week. Eileen’s work is informed by her continuing on-the-ground involvement, including an active volunteer life. Her family’s volunteer commitment at a South African school, including creating a 23,000-book library, was featured in The Washington Post and Voice of America TV.
Contact Eileen Kugler: EKugler@embracediverseschools.com
Innovative Voices in Education: Engaging Diverse Communities
Executive Editor: Eileen Gale Kugler
Insights, resources and strategies from 17 ground-breaking educators and community leaders around the world who share passionate first-person accounts of how to engage students and families of diverse backgrounds
**Books will be available at the event for purchase and signing.
“Overall, the stories of the educators, administrators, students, parents, and community members in the book are inspiring, reminding the reader that everyone can make a difference, even on a small scale. Kugler’s presentation—bringing stories of innovation in diversity out into the open—rather than furthering the image of despair that we so often associate with our broken education system, paints a picture of hope for the future of public education brought about by individuals willing to engage in innovations for diversity and equity.”
-School Community Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1 – Spring/Summer 2013
Academic Development Institute
“In our complicated, mixed up, diverse world with its different languages and cultures, there is nothing more challenging than confronting ‘the other,’ and yet nothing more enriching. Eileen Kugler has done all of us interested in understanding this world and promoting education in order to do so a great service. I strongly recommend this book for both parents and students who wish to create a better and more harmonious world.”
-Ambassador Akbar Ahmed
Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University, Washington DC
Author, Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam
“Eileen Kugler honors her readers by giving them the space to acknowledge the strength of diversity, the power of interdependence, and the soul of relationships and connections. She presents us with the face and voices of the 21st century. It is not testing that will create equity and opportunity for all of our students: it is the belief, ability, confidence, and respect for each other that is at the heart of a democratic society, and a quality public education. Do you want to know what a good school looks like? Read this book.”
-Arnold F. Fege
Director of Public Engagement and Advocacy, Public Education Network