High dropout rates from upper secondary school are related to substantial societal costs, and are hence a major policy concern. The Norwegian folk high schools provide a non-academic education in an intimate and nurturing environment where interpersonal and social skills are emphasised, and where individuals grow in sense of self-esteem and sense of coping. The unique non-academic nature of folk high schools allows us to explore if non-academic investments in youth could be effective tools in the battle against dropout. We have obtained access to high-quality Norwegian administrative data and use both a covariate adjustment technique and an instrumental variable technique to investigate whether a folk high school education raises the probability of dropouts completing upper secondary school. We find that dropouts are significantly more likely to complete an academic course if they have attended a folk high school. However, a folk high school education makes dropouts less likely to complete a vocational course. The non-academic education has the surprising tendency of redirecting vocational students to academic paths.