School of the future - absolutely no teacher
A school of 3,800 students and not a single teacher - can it really work? Better than most others, SvD says after visiting "École 42" in Paris. Here students learn programming on their own, entirely on their own terms. And school is at least successful.

- Why have teachers when to googla? says École 42's founder Nicolas Sadirac.

By Therese Larsson Hultin , Malin Hoelstad  Sat, 16.06
The education is structured as computer games.

PARIS They scrub the floor joints with a toothbrush. Leo Gautier and Charles Lanier are in their 20s and roommates. But just today they are being punished, something they sparkle a little bit of trouble.

"We posted something somewhere on the intranet where we did not receive, and our punishment is to clean for two hours with these toothbrushes," they tell.

A bit further away, another accomplice goes with a cloth and wipes computer screens. Rosanna Miralles is 19 years old and has gone 42 since last fall. Even she is punished for the same crime.

It's not quite as bad as it sounds. It is not a sadistic companion encounter, even though the students themselves decide at the programming school. Several we talk to say that it's good fun to be punished, it belongs, and almost everyone seems to be there at least once.

In addition to toothbrush cutting, you can be judged to stand welcome at the entrance, collect coffee to their fellow students or cleaning in general. In fact, it is the students who take care of almost all cleaning at 42, and that is unusually clean. No dirt or dump somewhere.

School 42 is a bit of a personal world. At the front desk is a condom, which is not a condom machine at all, but proves to be a work of art. A lot of contemporary art adorns the walls, but so does 42 also work as an art museum. Once a week, the gates open to the public. Skateboards are leaning against a wall and in the entire staircase hangs towels on drying - no art installations without signs of how many attend the school and how much time most students spend here.

30 percent start their own businesses, against 2 percent, which is the average in the French school system.

The department at the Porte de Clichy in Paris is featured throughout France. Around 70,000 people search every year, to scarce 1,000 places. Those who are admitted go for a three to five year programming cycle - how long you go depends entirely on yourself. On how much work is being spent, and how fast the data is done.


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It is the students themselves who decide on the programming school. After a posting on the intranet, Rosanna Miralles has been punished by screening. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
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Charles Lanier has a criminal service and is cleaned with a toothbrush. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
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Skateboards are leaning against a wall - a sign of how many go to school. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
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Throughout the staircase, towels are hanging on the floor. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
- This is the best way to learn. I solve the problems in my own way and at my own pace, says 27-year-old Audrey Roemer, who has both a degree from a business college and a masters degree in tourism in his luggage.

- The education is structured as a computer game. Here you can see what level I am at, "she says, pointing to the screen. 16 says it. At level 21 you are considered ready, but the vast majority end long before. They get job offers they can not refuse or start their own. The concept is a success story. 100 percent of those going to school 42 get jobs or become entrepreneurs. 30 percent start their own businesses, against 2 percent, which is the average in the French school system.

Audrey Roemer has reached level 16 of 21. "Because there are no teachers, we are the ones who correct each other's tasks," she says. Audrey Roemer has reached level 16 of 21. "Because there are no teachers, we are the ones who correct each other's tasks," she says. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
"Since there are no teachers, we are the ones who correct each other's tasks. For that we get credits that we can use to buy things, such as two hours in the whirlpool on the terrace over there, "continues Audrey Roemer.

She belongs to a minority of 42. Although the school is actively working to attract more girls, they make up only 13 percent of the 3,800 who go here.

We believe that the process of memorizing knowledge is misplaced.

Down in the entrance , a robotic voice welcomes everyone who draws their passports. Even here, you can use your unsubscribed credits to instead choose a personal greeting phrase. When a guy walks in through the gates, reminiscent of tunnel locks, signature music from Star Wars films starts.

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Students check into the barriers at school. A computer voice welcomes everyone with their respective first names. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
"The problem with teachers is that they tend to learn things. We believe that the process of memorizing knowledge is misplaced. Here, instead, you learn to find out the solution yourself, all answers are on Google, says Nicolas Sadirac, 42's founder and manager. Because there are actually staff. Around 40 people are employed. Even though they are not involved in the teaching itself, administration is in charge and technology that can break.

Nicolas Sadirac explains that their way of learning - or rather not learning - increases students' self-esteem, creativity and empathy. And creativity is needed in an industry that is constantly rushing forward and constantly changing.

"There are a lot of people in the IT industry who have the wrong kind of thinking. They carry old knowledge that is difficult to free themselves from. That industry needs are creative people who can think new, he says.

Nicolas Sadirac is 42's founder and manager. Nicolas Sadirac is 42's founder and manager. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
The name 42 comes from the book "The Lifter's Guide to the Galaxy".

The name 42 - the word "school" only adds when they want to emphasize what it is about - comes from the book "The Lifter's Guide to the Galaxy". There is the answer to the "ultimate question of life" just 42. A reference lost to all those who did not read Douglas Adam's cult-declined novel.

42 is funded by France's renowned telecommunications commissioner Xavier Niel. Nicolas Sadirac once again tells the story of how the two got in touch. He then ran a programming school for young people from vulnerable areas that needed a second chance in life.

"One of our students got work at Xavier Niel's mobile operator company. Within a year she was their great programming star and Xavier Niel asked to talk to the young girl and asked what she had for background. He dropped his chin when she told her that she was only two years old selling hamsters in a pet store, but she was trained with me, telling Sadirac and gossip scratches.

"Instead, you learn to find out the solution yourself, all answers are on Google," says Nicolas Sadirac. "Instead, you learn to find out the solution yourself, all answers are on Google," says Nicolas Sadirac. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
Xavier Niel threw himself on the phone to ask Nicolas Sadirac if he only had a very big trip with that girl, or if there were more like her.

"No, I have 50 more ready to start working," Sadirac replied to the billionaire's delight. Xavier Niel quickly made it clear that the industry needed thousands of programmers and he was prepared to pay if Nicolas Sadirac started a school where more could go.

The idea is that it does not matter what background, or what grades you have.

42 is completely free for the students. In addition, the person who can not arrange for his / her own self-service will also receive assistance with loans for which the school goes. The idea is that it does not matter what background, or what grades you have. According to Nicolas Sadirac, about 40 percent of the students do not even have any full upper secondary education, while there are students who have been taught.

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Emil Wallner from Sweden talks with his friend Sam Lynn-Evans from London. Photo: Malin Hoelstad
"We know that there are loads of talent not caught by the normal academic system. We do not even ask what they have for training behind them, the only thing that matters is what you can.

The admission process is so tough that only those with the right conditions are allowed to start.

This does not mean that you have to be able to program to be taken in. After a month at 42, there is no difference between the students who were beginners and those who have been in programming earlier. The admission process is so tough (see the fact box below) that only those with the right conditions are allowed to start.

"That's why almost no one hopes that it was not what they expected. In addition, the school is so famous in France that those who seek to know what they are getting into, says Nicolas Sadirac, adding not so proudly that there are two things that show that the students are satisfied:

- Of those who left school, 98 percent return at least once a month and just hang here or continue to solve our tasks. And then there's no dots. At all. I've been doing schools for 30 years and never been on something like that. In the four years we have been, I have not even replaced a chair. It has not been needed.


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Tough entry requirements: One month-long "bass summit"
Each year , 42 take-up tests are organized, each of which is one month long during July, August and September. Of the around 70,000 people who made the first online test, 3,000 were chosen. They are divided into groups of 1,000 and thus have 30 days to solve a number of tasks.

It's all called "La Piscine" - the pool - and most sleep in the school's corridors and rooms after working almost seven days a week. According to Nicolas Sadirac, 42's founder, the fatigue that the brain puts down the resistance to learning to think and tackle problems in a new way, and also shows which ones are appropriate to acquire a 42 degree education.

About 950 people are then taken in.

After completing education, when all 21 levels have been passed, no diploma is expected. Because 42 does not require a grade to enter, you can not pass an exam. For example, CSN does not provide student loans to study at 42 according to the Swedes going to school.
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