What does the number 42 evoke in you?

If you're a baseball fan, you might think of the movie biopic of the same name about American baseball player Jackie Robinson.

If you're a Coldplay fan, you might have the song playing in your mind now.

And if you tend to lean more on the geeky side, you might think "duh, it's the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything", in reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books.

42 is also the name of a disruptive experiment in education. I discovered "Ecole 42" in what might be my favorite documentary ever. This one-hour documentary follows four students for a whole month as they jump into "la piscine", a 4-week intensive basic training in which they get thrown into a totally new and immersive experience.

Since the video is in French, I wanted to share some of my notes with you and particularly highlight the commentaries from Nicolas Sadirac, former hacker turned entrepreneur and education disruptor.

If you just read the opening credits, you might tell yourself « that’s not possible »:

"a new kind of coding school"

"accessible to all regardless of the degree"

"a school without teachers"

"where the students learn among themselves"

"no diploma required"

"free (as in no fee)"

Nicolas Sadirac, who co-founded Ecole 42 in Paris back in 2013, reveals more of the behind the scenes:

at 6:20:

"the students arrive and they discover something which is totally unusual. It's as if we put people in the jungle and we told them, now you have to get by. Some of them are profoundly disturbed because they've been too "civilized", too domesticated by society. Some of them are not made for this school in the end for they're used to too much order and predictability. We create a very unpredictable environment where participants have to develop autonomy. That's where the difference truly lies."

at 9:00:

"What we're looking for is this ability to learn, to change, to thrive in uncertainty. We want to see people demonstrate an ability to galvanize those around them, to reinvent oneself in the face of new challenges. It's this capability that matters in the digital world. We need people who can invent new things, not repeat what came before. In the end, repeating is computer's job."

at 11:35:

"In any other school, students would have received some documentation that explains what to do. They would have been given a schedule. Somebody would have explained the rules. Here we do just the opposite. It's like a child in the end. You bring children to a kindergarten, and soon enough they will invent a game on the spot. They will define the stakes, the objectives and the game will happen by itself."

at 17:15:

"The student is the teacher. He or she will look for answers on the internet and find support in the community. Students will create their knowledge. If a student shows up having some coding skills but cannot evolve, we won't keep him. But if a student shows up with no coding skills yet demonstrate an ability to adapt, to evolve and to learn, then we will keep him or her. Besides, by the end of this intensive, we will keep from 30% to 40% of students who never programmed before."

at 21:53:

We're more interested in their ability to change timeframe than in their ability to manage their time. Once more, what we're looking for are people who can adapt and change their strategy depending on the problem, in both a group setting context and an individual activity context."

at 38:55:

"in a classic education system, students will get a B or a C if they produce something average. In reality, being average amounts to nothing. It's better to produce less stuff that works well than stuff that functions so and so. It's something difficult for some people to apprehend because they've been raised in a system where we give them « encouragements », which prove to be destructive because people then become used to mediocrity."

43:02:

"managing sleep is something quite complicated because, we managed it for them up until now, meaning most schools close their doors at 5pm or 7pm. Students don't have the option. And now that they have the choice in this 24/7 context, they realize it's actually very complicated. This may be one of their key learning takeaway."

54:03:

"People have talent. They just have an aversion to risk and to uncertainty which in the end represents a waste of talent. With most of the students who finish "la piscine", we would be delighted to take them on board but we don't have enough room. We would definitely enroll them if we had the available space. But all of the students who followed through the four weeks leave this experience profoundly changed. Besides, I met some of the students we didn't keep a year later, and they told me this experience profoundly changed their lives."

If you want learn more about 42's methodology, I invite you to have a look at their website where you find further information about peer-to-peer and holistic learning, peer-correcting, and progress gamification.