Pierre Filidabo Amougou lived in Villiers-le-Bel when the riots broke out.
While still in primary school, he remembers hearing his mother talk to him about going to school to change his “social condition”.
Since he achieved this by first joining the CPES Henri IV - Dauphine after a very good baccalaureate, and by graduating from ENS Ulm, the young man has been keen to help young people in the neighborhoods " to open their horizons.
For this, he co-founded with his mother Les Mindsetters, an association which fights against dropping out of school and provides ideas so that young people who benefit from the association's services are better equipped to succeed in integrating prestigious schools.
THE PARISIAN.
Have you always been a good student?
Pierre Filidabo Amougou.
Not really !
I did all of my primary school in Villiers-le-Bel, and at the time of the riots, my mother explained a very simple thing to me: it was through school that I would be able to change my social condition.
At the time, I wasn't always aware of this, but I often heard the term suburban come up, and associated with certain stereotypes and views on neighborhoods.
We then moved to Montmorency and in college, I was content to do the bare minimum.
One day, our English teacher told a few of my classmates and me that we would not have the certificate and that we would be guided into a professional sector.
I wondered how a teacher could predict what fate I would have!
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It was at that moment that I understood that to be free, I had to have aspirations and find what I wanted to do.
In 3rd grade, I was first in my class!
Only, in my family no one had higher education, my father left school at 12, so I only had one time horizon, the baccalaureate.
You then meet a teacher who opens this horizon to you.
Yes, in second grade, my physics teacher pushed me to imagine going as far as Henri IV, Normale Sup' or Sciences-po.
To achieve this, I obtained a very good honors in the baccalaureate.
But I censored myself and did not complete my registration form for Sciences-po and Henri IV.
At the time, despite my very good grades, I mainly said to myself “who am I to go to Henri IV?
» Fortunately, the CPES came to get me and I finally joined the course.
When you arrive there, do you discover a completely unknown world?
Yes !
I also observe that there is no diversity and a lot of symbolic violence.
Our English teacher, for example, cited great preparatory classes, and when talking about Condorcet, stopped to say “whatever, because there are a lot of suburbanites.
» It was often, “there are us and the others”.
“If they don’t have the tools for their ambitions, we’re selling them a false dream”
Pierre Filidabo Amougou
I remember a visit from a class from the Cordée de la Success to Henri IV.
They asked me if I was really registered there!
It was at that moment that I asked myself what I could do on my own scale.
I worked at my old high school or at Les Cordées, but it was limited because if they don't have the tools to achieve their ambitions, they are being sold a false dream.
There is also a financial aspect which was a concern for you…
Yes, because in CPES, the first year takes place at Henri IV, then the École des Mines and finally at Dauphine.
I was in economic, social and legal studies.
I lived in the University City and for the first two years, I did not have to pay for my accommodation.
In 3rd year, the rules changed and I found myself threatened with expulsion, I could no longer eat three meals a day.
There was a knock on my bedroom door to tell me that I hadn't paid my rent.
I lied to my classmates by saying that I wasn't hungry, I wanted to quit my studies because of that.
And the situation had an impact on my grades.
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When I took the ENS oral exams, I was among the eight eligible, but the director at the time was a little afraid of the irregularity of my grades.
It was the first time that my social class caught up with me and prevented me from moving forward as I wanted.
My financial problems did not allow me to show the extent of my abilities.
I then came back to my mother's house, but I was lost and no longer went to class.
Is that where you came across a scholarship to study at Berkeley?
Yes, on Facebook!
The Article 1 association and the Schoolabs incubator had joined forces with the University of Berkeley and offered this scholarship.
I didn't know anything about entrepreneurship, but I wanted to discover something else to discover myself and I went for the interviews.
I needed a break.
I won the scholarship and thanks to this program, I discovered US culture, leadership and that before knowing what you do, you have to know who you are.
I discovered social entrepreneurship there.
You then return during Covid, what do you decide to do to occupy your time?
I did a six-month civic service with Article 1, and connected students who did not have family to help them with volunteers.
On this occasion, I launched a survey to determine the problems they encounter with Parcoursup or with their studies.
Of the 366 responses I received, many told me "I don't know how to learn" or "I can't concentrate."
This is where I discovered books on neuroscience and came across an article by Coralie Chevallier, researcher in cognitive sciences at the ENS.
You decide to try your luck at ENS…
Yes !
This time, even if I have little chance of being accepted, every morning, I prepare for the ENS exam between 5 and 8 a.m., before my civic service, I read neuroscience and cognitive science books, and After a month and a half, I was ready for the competition… and I managed to get into school!
So what do you use your classes to help young people in difficulty?
I apply what I learn in the field of education and equal opportunities, I wonder how we learn and how our social environment conditions us.
In 2022, I created an association, Les mindsetters, with my mother.
These are workshops based on cognitive sciences, illustrated by examples linked to sport or culture.
For example, we show how important failure is in learning and we illustrate it with manga or how Kylian Mbappé learned to shoot and trained.
We help young people from modest backgrounds to learn better.
Beyond learning, what are the other obstacles?
As I had financial difficulties and I had to work alongside my studies, I understood that when you come from certain backgrounds, you are not obliged to work more because in reality you have less time , but we must learn to be more efficient than others.
But this is not the only obstacle, because self-censorship is also present among young people.
We forget the psychological obstacles: we must first unblock them before we can even consider that young people from modest backgrounds will turn to schools like Sciences-po.
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We must help them to have the tools to succeed in achieving their objectives, otherwise they risk being disappointed and resenting society.
We support young people throughout Île-de-France to teach them to concentrate, to speak in public or to network: they have difficulty creating a network or having the codes, and we want them to succeed.
When I arrived at Henri IV, in the discussions, we did not have the same references, I was always “short term” when others were targeting businesses, internships, etc.
I first had to survive when they were there to build.
What do you advise the young people you support with the association?
I always tell them that they must be ambitious and that this must be their compass, to avoid aiming for the short term.
Build your network for tomorrow and your long-term project: which network do you need?
Which internship or person to meet to make your project work?
How to be master of your destiny?
All the questions you asked yourself, ultimately...
Yes !
And the hardest thing for me was arriving at CPES because I had to learn how to learn!
I had some margin in high school, but the academic level at Henri IV was not the same as my high school.
In writing or speaking, I was years apart!
I had to catch up while being threatened with expulsion, at 19 years old, it wasn't easy!
I felt the same thing at the ENS, because the normaliens trainee civil servants have a salary that I did not have as a student admitted to prepare for the diploma (EAPD).
I worked on the side and I had prepared well, I had saved money, I had not touched the civic service money.
I had obtained a student loan and I was working giving courses in a business school, but I was aware of not having the same luxury as others.
Especially since there is little social diversity at ENS and the school is not really used to having students for whom money is a question.
To go to Princeton, I had to prove that I had 17,000 euros deposit.
I'm going to Princeton with the school but to leave I had to prove that I had 17,000 euros deposit!
Fortunately, I had the Vocation Prize, private sponsors and the school will help me, but it is not normal that this is not a question.