Henri IV, Louis Le Grand, Janson de Sailly, “Ginette”… Behind the walls of the most highly rated establishments in France, almost all located in Paris or nearby, a generation of young people are working to become “the best in the nation ".
They have their baccalaureate in their pocket, with honors, very good, often even the “congratulations of the jury”, and as soon as the summer holidays are over, from the start of the school year in September, the clock starts.
The “prep” begins.
In
The Factory of Elites Derailed
(1), journalist Iban Raïs sums up the challenge: “Two years of deprivation without any social life: no outings, no coffee drinks.
Cramming, nothing but cramming.”
The bet is daring, but it allows you to integrate the best schools in the nation such as HEC, ENS, Polytechnique or CentraleSupélec.
Which form the future economic and political elite of the country.
The proof: a quarter of CAC40 bosses, ministers and dozens of deputies are graduates of these schools.
Except…
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