After dropping out of school, they found their way: Femme Actuelle Le MAG

At first, Elsa was terribly bored. "All my schooling, I tried to fit into the mold. In vain … I was not made to educate myself on the school benches." To the point of leaving high school to do an internship and follow training in entrepreneurship and finally pass his bac as a free candidate. Obtained with distinction! At 19, she just published Hack your bin *. "With this personal development manual, I want to prove to young high school students that we can succeed in life outside the classic circuit", claims the young entrepreneur. In France, nearly 80,000 young people leave the education system each year without a diploma. Inferiority complex, lack of self-confidence, excessive school pressure, refusal to compete … Many factors explain these school phobias. Other elements contribute to these early learning difficulties, such as the social background or the unmixed pupils in certain establishments, according to the latest report from the National Council for the Evaluation of the School System (Cnesco). To remedy these dropouts which keep young people away from the job market, solutions have been put in place. There are thus, at the local or national level, many devices which allow dropouts to find their way (see box). These efforts seem to be bearing fruit. The Ministry of Education estimates the proportion of out-of-school students at 9.3% compared to 13% a decade earlier. In addition to the necessary learning, building self-confidence remains essential. This is the concept of "Cancres", a new series broadcast on RMC Story. Personalities such as Gad Elmaleh or Adrien Aumont, founder of Kiss Kiss Bank Bank (1) tell their schooling in a jagged fashion to students in difficulty. With the same ambition, the Re.starts Awards ceremony organized by the Caisse d'Épargne rewards each year those who have successfully transformed their academic woes into success. Among this year's recipients was Arash Derambash. With nine repetitions on the clock, this multi-dropout became a lawyer at 37! * Hack your bac, the Guide to succeed in high school, by Elsa Cohen, Massot Éditions, € 22.90; (1) leading crowdfunding site

"I gained self-confidence while working": Flore, 21, executive assistant

“Throughout my schooling, I felt oppressed. I felt like I was not progressing and worried a lot about my future. No matter how bad I was, I was in dire need of self-confidence. My parents insisted on passing my baccalaureate, but I dropped out first and failed to pass the exam as a free candidate. I needed to learn in the field, not in books. When I was 18, I wanted to go to Canada to learn English. I needed a big change, to get away from my family. I came back with an English degree, but my ideas were still very confused. My father helped me get an internship in a start-up that made menstrual pants. Very quickly, I gained confidence in myself. I felt useful and valued in my work. After another internship, he offered to join the family business, Boldoduc, specializing in technical textiles. I trained as an executive assistant with a professional contract and today I am on a permanent contract. I have never felt so fulfilled. "

"School is not the only way to success": Elsa, 19, author and coach

"I stopped high school first, suffering from school phobia. My parents accepted that I pass my literary bac as a free candidate. I wanted to have it so that I could pursue higher education if necessary. I obtained it with honors in June 2018. That year, I shared my time between my revisions and research in fields that fascinate me like the educational world. Revising alone at night has not always been easy. But I managed to get an internship in a start-up incubator as a community manager. So I left my parents when I was 16 to settle with my grandmother. After six months of internship, I started writing a book on dropouts. My publisher agreed to let me manage all of the illustrations, communication and promotion of the book that came out last November. I explain that school is not the only way to success. I also offer my coaching services to support young people while continuing to train, especially in dance therapy. " hacktonbac.com

"I am proud of the progress we have made": Lucie, 40, manager of a consulting company

"Public school, private college, girls boarding school … I've tried everything! On my newsletters, it was always the same comment: "Lucie has a lot of abilities, but makes the minimum effort". At sixteen, tired of trying to get into the huts, I left the school system and then six months later, I enrolled in CAP Café, bar, brasserie. I became a waitress until I was 22 years old. Then my mother, who had set up a business specializing in corporate social service, asked me to replace my sister, on maternity leave. I started as a secretary before enrolling in the evening class at the faculty to learn about law and management. Finding my nose in books, in large lecture halls, was not easy. But I hung on and I got a taste for learning. My skills were useful and I had real satisfaction in developing our business. I continued with a BTS management assistant and joined a business school in “entrepreneurial management”, on a work-study basis. After my son's birth break, the year I turned 28, I followed a master's in human resources. Today, my mother has taken early retirement and I manage thirty employees. In retrospect, I am proud of the progress made. I think I was mostly afraid of failure, and I had to get into work to measure what I was worth. "

SOLUTIONS FOR A NEW START

The Vocations Institute for Jobs (LIVE) initiated by Brigitte Macron organizes masterclasses for young people between 25 to 30 years old.

Second chance schools, created twenty years ago by Édith Cresson are aimed at young dropouts under the age of 26. In the 130 establishments of this type, 60% of young people have found a job or a place in skills training.

Establishments for entering the workforcei (EPIDE) help 18/25 year olds without qualification to find a job or training. There are 19 centers in France.

The Apprentis d'Auteuil Foundation supports young people who drop out of school through various training and integration programs, such as SPRES (Service for the prevention of educational and school breakdowns).