How did I hack my education?
Like most of us, I've always been frustrated with school. That's why, instead of a boring final year in high school…
Originally published on Medium in 🇫🇷. (This version was translated to English on Deepl.com without me double checking for weird sentences & spelling- busy doing other things!)
Like most of us, I've always been frustrated with school. That's why, instead of a boring final year in high school, I graduated with distinctions while traveling, working in a startup, and creating projects.
This experience was unique: In 1 year, I had the opportunity to discover more about the world and about myself than in 16 years at school.
Now that I've graduated, I have the choice between continuing my studies, working in startups or launching my own company! In this article, you'll find the story of my adventures and learn all the techniques I used to hack my education and get my bachelor's degree, so that you can follow the same path too :)
0/ Preparation
June 2017, I'm in grade 11 in high school and my mood is down. Classes are synonymous with boredom, teachers with forced respect, and having to sit in my chair all day is just unbearable.
My options are limited: continue skipping classes in my senior year and get my degree without any motivation, or take the risk of homeschooling, using the time I have available to do exciting projects.
After heated discussions with my teachers who assured me that I would not obtain my diploma this way and with my parents who were worried about their daughter leaving the traditional system, my decision was made: I dropped out from high school!
Homeschooling will allow me to move at my own pace and be more efficient, so I'm setting goals in the summer of 2017: to intern at a startup, to do an art project, to travel, and to get my bachelor's degree.
I/ The internship
Wishing to discover the professional world and appreciating the innovative aspect of startups, I decided to start my year with a 3-month internship in an Edtech startup (Education Technology). Not having any skills to offer nor the possibility to get an internship agreement for legal reasons, the task was complicated. During summer break, I worked on my application in order to define the offer most likely to please.
I applied to about 15 startups, and I chased them up 1, 2 or even 3 times before receiving an interview offer from Les Sherpas. Victory! It was with great joy (and stress) that I went to the interview at Station F and was selected the same afternoon.
That's how I moved from Marseille, the city where I grew up, to a new world in Paris: the capital, the work, and the adults.
My missions during this internship were related to our blog and the construction of a product addressed to high school students. But I obviously discovered a lot of other things! For example, we had the chance to be followed by the BFM TV team for the Foundation documentary: a unique and rather funny experience. I also had the opportunity to participate in student trade shows to present our product, from the distribution of flyers to sales.
Obviously, this challenge was far from easy. After years of intense procrastination in middle and high school, it's exhausting to be in the intense pace of a startup and have to manage the Bachelor's at the same time. I made mistakes, had occasional disagreements with my team, and also suffered from the disconnect between the world of my friends still in high school and the one I was in.
I still have great memories of it. It was very exciting to be able to work on projects that have real value and to be bonded with the rest of the team through a mission: to develop our startup. It was a very instructive experience on a personal level as well as learning technical skills.
#HACK: How to do an internship when you have no skills?
Find an industry that you are passionate about (for me, education).
Publish 1 or 2 interesting articles on this topic online.
Make a list of startups and find several contact emails (use LinkedIn and EmailHunter to find the email of the CEO, HR manager...).
Write a short spontaneous application email to offer to carry out 1 or 2 simple missions for free as an internship.
You have to apply to as many companies as possible (minimum 15) in order to have a chance of being hired somewhere, and you have to chase it up once a week until you get an answer.
Fake it t'ill you make it: be proactive and always ready to do new things. The internet is your best friend for answering your questions.
Make an effort to put your shyness aside to ask for help, meet great people and network.
Be curious: it's the best way to learn.
II/ Business training & cultural activities
This year was an opportunity for me to participate in drawing classes and to travel. I also had the chance to learn about various subjects by participating to workshops and conferences.
I have also participated in Lion and Koudetat kids, two courses offered by The Family. The pedagogy is unique and they are both free.
The first one is for startup employees who want to bring value to their startup and better understand the jungle that is the world of entrepreneurship. Every Saturday for 8 weeks, I was able to attend classes given by great entrepreneurs, and deepen my skills on various topics. It was very formative to take part!
Koudetat kids is a training course reserved for people under 23 years old. For 3 months, 15 students met on Saturdays from 10am to 6pm, "in theory" to listen to Oussama Ammar's classes and meet entrepreneurs. But what happened was much more extraordinary. We became a group of collaborators on each other's projects, and above all friends.
What I found at Koudetat Kids was not only great classes and talented people, but love and solidarity. It was a full human experience.
As the weeks went by, we learned to self-manage. We met every Saturday in The Family's office, and each of us had the opportunity to teach our own classes to other students. We also used our skills to develop muses (passive income), which would facilitate the creation of projects later on. Beyond becoming business experts, Koudetat Kids taught us autonomy, respect and caring. These are qualities that were not present in school and yet are so precious!
#HACK: How to achieve the training of your dreams?
Check online reviews and contact former students to be sure of the quality of the courses and teachers of the course you want to take.
Post a 30-60 second video on Youtube to explain why you want to do this course.
Apply officially for the course and also send an email to the organizers with a link to your video to show your motivation.
Maximize your training by opening up to others and offering to help. Caring and helping others is a virtuous circle that will allow you to make connections with interesting people.
III/ In the meantime, I studied for my bachelor's degree
In the midst of all this learning, my first challenge was to obtain my bachelor. This was the condition for which my parents had agreed to let me live my senior year in this way. It was the hardest thing I had to do in my life.
The first reason was probably my lack of organization and method. School made us so passive by way of disinterest and "work chewing" that this more than essential skills went out the window. Over the months, I learned to develop techniques to learn as efficiently as possible.
I tried many homeschool programs which were all very disappointing. In the end, I studied my courses only with the help of internet and books, in order to find a way to be interested and therefore to learn more easily.
What was great was that I discovered that you learn interesting things in school. For example, I realized what an exciting subject history is. Until then, I had been disillusioned by boring classes at school, but reading historians' books and watching videos on the chapters of my program made me realize how useful it is. For the first time in my school career, with only the constraint that I imposed on myself, I found interest in my courses.
My other observation is that no one can understand the life and problems of a highschooler, except another highschooler. At the moment, there is no competent institution to support these students, even though there are more than 20,000 of them every year. This is why these students feel very alone. In order to cope with this situation, it is essential to have an environment that is attentive to the regular discouragement that one may experience.
Moreover, I understood that staying at home alone every day to study is the most depressing thing possible. So I went from libraries to coworking spaces to finally being welcomed in The Family's offices to complete my studies. Entrepreneurs and freelancers have in common with homeschoolers this loneliness and lack of understanding of the outside world. Why would you want to leave the mainstream path?
"A bird born in a cage thinks that flying is a disease" Alejandro Jodorowsky
The year ended with the bachelor's exams, which was a tough time. I was afraid that I would be too far out of step with the system to make it and until July 6th (results day), I had deep doubts.
It was with joy that I finally discovered that yes, my bet was successful. Despite the many difficulties, tears and exasperations, I had succeeded.
#HACK: How to get your bachelor degree as a homeschooler?
Study online with startups that offer better quality courses and videos than what you can find in traditional school.
Prepare a work schedule for each subject and objectives according to your interests and classes' ratios.
Ask someone you know to be your "mentor" and set a day and time for a 30-minute discussion to review your progress each week.
Analyze the expectations of the correctors and examiners to focus your work on them (80/20 rule). Using quotes in your paper makes you look like an expert on the subject... even if you're not :).
Focus on 2-3 subjects with high coefficients and that interest you the most in order to get the maximum grade which generally allows you to pass the bachelor's degree.
Find the balance between being strict and tolerant with yourself. Working alone requires a lot of discipline that you will acquire over time. It is normal to make mistakes. The most important thing is not to give up.
IV/ The results and the future
+ more than 15 conferences and workshops🛠
Some travels and artistic projects🚀
+ more than 128 hours of entrepreneurship learnings📝
Meeting with some of the greatest entrepreneurs👫
A group of friends and future cofounders💖
A bachelor degree with distinction🔥
Doing my senior year homeschooling was the hardest thing I've ever done, and by contrast the most exceptional. I don't regret having made the effort to pursue this path, which now opens up a bright future for me.
I have decided not to pursue higher education at this time, in order to develop a new version of the Koudetat Kids program, called Reverse, and to travel abroad.
The project I am most excited about is the one I started this summer. "Hack Ton Bac" is a new way to experience high school. Adapted to the individuality of each student, I want to allow them to develop projects that they are passionate about, starting in high school. It's time to transform school and allow teenagers to blossom.
The conclusion of my year is without any hesitation: when you want something and you put your energy into it, you always win. This is what I wish to prove to all high school students today, and I am making it my mission.