The Well-Educated Child

From one of America's leading educators, a timeless approach for education that cultivates intelligent, happy, purposeful, and morally grounded young people.

In The Well-Educated Child, Dr. Deborah Kenny offers an inspiring vision for American education.

Drawing on decades of experience in deeper learning practices that are now central to the national conversation, Kenny presents education as soul craft. To understand what a great education should look and feel like, Kenny takes us inside classrooms and describes the experience of students who are intrinsically motivated, challenged, gracious to one another, and inspired to learn.

With wit, wisdom, and warmth, Kenny illuminates how to educate children based on three concepts: quality thinking, ethical purpose, and a sense of agency. Her approach is both practical and deeply philosophical, drawing on classical literature and inviting students to think independently, seek knowledge, and discover who they are meant to become. At a time when parents and teachers are concerned about disengagement, declining curiosity, emotional disconnection, and digital distraction, The Well-Educated Child is a hopeful exposition of what education can and should be.

Deborah Kenny is the founder of Harlem Village Academies and the Deeper Learning Institute, and one of the most influential educators in the country. Dr. Kenny has been honored with the Columbia University Teachers College Distinguished Alumni Award, and named on Oprah's Power List and Esquire's Best and Brightest, and is regularly featured in national media. She holds a PhD from Columbia University in comparative international education and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the mother of three grown children and lives in New York City.