????雖然相隔多年，黛博拉?肯尼依然清晰地記得那一天。她把車靠邊停在了美國95號州際公路的路肩上，拿出筆記本寫下了“教育不是開發產品，而是培育人”。當時，肯尼的丈夫剛去世不久，高薪工作讓她郁郁寡歡，她渴望在紐約黑人聚居區——哈林創建一家新的公助私立學校。她確實做到了。在《天生我才》（Born to Rise）一書中，肯尼娓娓道來，回憶了多年致力于提供優質教育這段“亦師亦生”的歷程。

????肯尼認定，打造一所好學校的最好辦法是培養高素質的教師隊伍。

????她堅信社會經濟因素不應成為學生求學的障礙。正是這種天真的樂觀情緒支撐著她在紐約市教育系統僵化的官僚作風下努力前行，讓教師和學生都做到最好。

????和很多成功的創業者一樣，肯尼從一開始就有明確的構想，并在前行過程中不斷調整策略。她飛到全美很多地方參加會議，借鑒頂尖教育專家的意見，并思考如何在幾無儲蓄的情況下創建一所學校。很多專家警告肯尼，她很可能失敗。有些時候，她的確失敗了，但這些小小的挫折都進一步轉化為了她繼續前進的動力。

????2001年哈林鄉村學校（Harlem Village Academies）成立時，哈林區僅29%的四年級學生可以通過基本的閱讀測試，16%的八年級學生能夠達到該年級的閱讀水平。五年后，肯尼的學生們創造了歷史，成為哈林區首個八年級數學測試全部達標的班級。

????She pulled over to the shoulder on I-95, took out her notebook, and wrote: "Education is not about developing products. It's about developing people." Deborah Kenny was recently widowed, unhappy at her high-paying job, and eager to create a new public charter school in Harlem. Which she did. In Born to Rise, Kenny takes us on her long but rewarding journey to deliver great education, one teacher and student at a time.

????Kenny decided that the best way to build a quality school was to develop quality teachers.

????She firmly believed that socioeconomic circumstances shouldn't block any student from learning. Her na?ve optimism helped her cut through New York City's stultifying educational bureaucracy and get the very best from her teachers and students.

????Like many successful entrepreneurs, Kenny had a clear vision from day one but often changed tactics along the way. She flew around the country to conferences, picking the brains of top experts in education, while figuring out how to start a school with barely any money in her bank account. Many experts warned Kenny that she could easily fail. At times she did, but only in small ways that strengthened her motivation to succeed.

????When Harlem Village Academies launched in 2001, only 29% of fourth grade students in Harlem could pass a basic reading test. Just 16% of Harlem eighth graders could read at grade level. Five years later, Kenny's students made history as the first Harlem class ever to achieve 100% proficiency in eighth-grade math.

????Kenny introduces us to kids who faced long odds in their pursuit of an education. Their successes and failures keep you turning each page. After President George W. Bush toured Kenny's school in 2007, he said on national television that schools everywhere should follow her example. Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the school "a national model of excellence." NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams called them "a lesson for America's schools about what works."