I am covering two reasons football is better than high school this morning, since they are complementary.
#5. In football, repetition is honorable.
We may or may not be on board with Malcolm Gladwell's assertion that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become truly skilled (or expert) at something, but we all agree that a certain amount of practice pays off. Practice needs to be purposeful and strategic -- practicing the wrong things doesn't lead to sudden success -- but almost everything gets "easier" or better or more efficient, with practice.
Basketball players do not come on the court for pre-game warmups immediately firing three-pointers. They run simple layup drills, and even the professionals do this. Football players run the same plays in practice, over and over, until they don't hesitate in their tasks.
Long ago I helped coach a 7th grade football team and the offense I taught consisted of only seven plays, each of which could be run either to the left or to the right. If the players ran them correctly, we had a decent chance of moving the ball forward. In my coaching infancy, I discovered that, in theory, every play a team ran in football was designed to produce a score. The "x" factor was simply whether the ball carrier could run by or fake out or bowl over TWO defensive players, assuming the other offensive players all handled their opposite number with a block or screen or some deception.
In most academic classes, the idea that we will go over essential skills every day is unheard of. No way. We've got to move on. We've got all this planned curriculum to cover and time's a wastin'.
Most teachers are fine with moving the class on to the next project, book, unit, or experiment, even if many in the class have demonstrated at most some minimal skill or competence or understanding of the previous lesson. "Hey, everyone is passing, at least, so we can move along."
Or think of it this way: in that English 9 class I constantly refer to, some students may earn a D on an assignment (or flat out fail) but does that bring the class to a halt until everyone is somewhat equal in skill and performance? Unlikely. But that 7th grade team repeated key plays over and over until everyone was doing their job. "Let's run it again," is an athletic coach's friend.
Reason #6 is related to #5. In football, the unexpected happens all the time.
In a football game, players line up across from the same opposing players quite often, yet every play is unique. Successful practice teaches players what to do but everyone knows the opposition may do something different and everyone has to adjust. There is no time to reflect on best choices and athletes can't just coast on their basic skills and fitness.
Learning to read resembles this uncertainty factor. We take on increasingly complex texts as we become more comfortable with vocabulary and syntax. We don't have to have encountered a text before to competently make sense of our reading. In fact, we love to read something new and compelling.
Football players can't take a play off (well, they can't if they hope to continue playing), unlike most students in a classroom, who can doze or daydream or doodle or subtly check their phones... Classroom group discussions are routinely dominated by just a few students, though we suspect that others have valuable insights to share. They just don't feel empowered to share them and find it comfortable to watch and listen to others rather than take a chance on expressing something.
Lesson plans for most courses are built on strict cause and effect patterns. If the teacher structures the lesson as lesson design suggests, students (widgets) will naturally progress in rational ways and all reach the same conclusions, skills, and ideas. Disruptions to the plan are damaging and wasted time means the logical progression is hurried.
But education is not a fancy cookbook, with surefire recipes for success. If we found a foolproof recipe for learning, wouldn't everyone be successful?
I noticed in my own career that the very best lessons were those that took off in unexpected directions, and that the longer I taught, the more nimble I could be. Sticking to the script is what we do when we aren't prepared enough to enjoy variations and options and even the unknown. A lesson is not a play, with each student needing to properly recite lines for success.
Football coaches are continually surprised by how players handle shifting situations. Most academic classroom teachers are not fans of surprises. Order is essential for those carefully planned lessons to reach their goals. Surprises can be bad or embarrassing.
I'm not advocating for uncontrolled chaos, but wouldn't it be nice to be regularly surprised in the classroom?
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