Math teachers should be more like football coaches
For those debating reading the piece -- do it! John Urschel wrote it, and he&#x27;s probably the most qualified to do so.<p>I think his point is broadly correct: the way we teach football, and the way talented football players get mentored in high school, often puts mathematics to shame. Two responses come to mind:<p>1. The incentive structures are different for high school math teachers and high school football coaches. If a high school football coach produces an elite college (or pro!) prospect then colleges will pay more attention to the coach. Get enough attention and the high school coach might become a college assistant, a college head coach, etc. There is a very real personal incentive for high school coaches to produce good players.<p>In contrast, a high school math teacher who produces great math undergrads will probably get student appreciation and little else. Maybe they&#x27;ll get to work with the math olympiads or something, but it&#x27;s not like a college will recruit them as tenure-track faculty. Most great high school math teachers are doing it for pretty pure reasons. Admirable, but hard to expect from rational people.<p>2. Another big problem is that there are <i>very</i> few high school math teachers who have a good idea of what mathematicians do, or have strong math backgrounds in general. Makes sense given that most people with strong math abilities can make much more money doing something that&#x27;s not teaching. Plus, based on almost a decade around people who study, research, and teach math, it&#x27;s a pretty small fraction of them who get excited about teaching math to people who, for the most part, aren&#x27;t into it anyway. In contrast, outside of very small schools, most high school football coaches love football, even if they didn&#x27;t necessarily play at a high level.<p>These factors combine to make math teachers not like football coaches.<p>I don&#x27;t have a great solution to either problem. I do wish there was some better, more organized way for bored and retired math people to help teach middle and high schoolers. I think for many such people the desire is there, but they&#x27;re not going to start a whole organization and overcome a bunch of administrative hurdles (which, apparently, are particularly offensive to many people who like math) to do it.