The idea of the "low-learning scar" is borrowed from recent labour economics literature in which concepts such as "unemployment scarring", "wage scarring" and "scarred generation" are increasingly used for the interpretation of problems (the NEETs problem, for instance) which presently plague all Western economies/societies, especially those within the Mediterranean area. In this article, the "scar" is observed in a 15-person sample of Italian low-skilled adults, aged 25-41 years, interviewed regarding events which affected their lives, starting from their abandonment of the educational path soon after the lower middle school level. These events significantly impacted nearly all of the interviewee's pursuit of employment, successful or not, and influenced their own concerns, projects and life practices. For most, coping with the low-learning scar required high levels of resilience in order to rise above difficult living conditions and devise appropriate personal strategies, particularly those regarding adult education. "Resilience" is not defined here as resistance to or recovery from unfavourable situations, but as a higher level adult meta-competence, a "reflexive resilience" applied to life strategies. In particular, the research demonstrates the importance of reflexive resilience in fostering and governing the personal drive towards the development of competency, as well as the need for formal and informal learning.