How can young people who have shown the greatest seriousness for two years in preparatory class indulge in the most uncontrolled outbursts once they arrive in a big school? This is the question that psychologist Roxane Dejours asked herself as part of a research work resulting from the work of her thesis, published in 2017. For this survey, the psychologist followed around fifty students, from their arrival in preparation until their entry into the world of work.
In view of the excesses within the Grandes Ecoles, how can we explain the discipline that young preparatory students impose on themselves before integrating them?
One of the most striking dimensions is, in my opinion, the evolution of the students between the beginning and the end of the preparatory class. Initially, most of them are very destabilized and often overwhelmed by the amount of work and the demands of the teachers. They gradually learn to defend themselves once morest the suffering generated by these work constraints and to cut themselves off from what they feel, their doubts and their apprehensions; to the point that at the end of the course it is not uncommon for them to deny, most often in good faith, having found those years difficult.
Even more so, in some cases, there is a cynical reversal of constraints and values to adopt a posture of claiming effort and the ability to “hold on”, which students acquire in particular by fighting once morest daydreaming, distraction or once morest any which is likely to call into question their relationship to the preparatory class. It is a real work of progressive desensitization.
When these students arrive in these great schools, they must submit to the rituals of these places. Is this a paradigm shift or a continuity with the preparation?
Contrary to appearances, it must be kept in mind that the preparatory class-high school system is a whole, and not two entities disconnected from each other. A sudden change occurs for students on their arrival in Grande Ecole: the center of gravity, hitherto located in academic work, shifts in favor of new rules of the game, generally quite destabilizing and generating a feeling of loss. meaningful to students. Academic seriousness is no longer the cardinal value, what is expected of them is a rapid and complete investment in activities which at first sight seem rather light: student associations, parties and festive events.
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