I wish more teachers had the same passion about their subjects as coaches do about sports
When I was in high school, I wanted to be Jake Long.
Not Albert Einstein, the genius behind the general theory of relativity and the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc^2, or John Von Neumann, arguably the greatest mathematician of the 20th century. I wanted to be the starting left tackle for the Michigan Wolverines.
I was 220 pounds, about 80 pounds less than a typical big-time college tackle. Until Penn State offered me a scholarship at the last minute—I was the 26th of 27 recruits—most major programs were not seriously pursuing me. Where I really shined was in the classroom. I went to an academic powerhouse. I excelled in the sciences and consistently achieved perfect scores on my math exams. I had athletic potential, but it paled in comparison to my academic potential.
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And yet, while my football coaches told me I could be an offensive lineman in the Big Ten and that I could play professional football someday, not one of my math teachers told me I could major in math. No one told me I could become a professional mathematician. No one told me I could be John Von Neumann.
I find educators too often scold the culture of football for encouraging players to imagine that they can play in college or professionally if they have the talent and the work ethic. The odds of a high school football player making it to the NFL are extremely slim, but there’s nothing wrong with encouraging student-athletes to dream big. I wish more teachers had the same fire and the same passion about their subjects as coaches do about sports, and the same desire to recognize and develop potential. I wish more teachers told their students to have the biggest dreams, and then did everything in their power to nurture and strengthen them.
Granted, football coaches have at least half their work done for them. Football is cool. It’s what children see when they turn on the television. It’s what they hear their fathers talk about. What they don’t realize is that math is cool, too. You would be shocked to know how many of my teammates over the years want to talk about mathematics with me. Being a mathematician—doing research on the orbits of planets and artificial intelligence, coming up with original solutions to unsolved problems, presenting a paper to the National Security Agency—is cool.
But over and over, people tell me that math is not for them. Sometimes I wonder whether the real problem is that no one ever told them what math could do for them. No one ever told them to think that math could make them a star.
This is not to say that everyone should aspire to be a mathematician or a scientist. Math is not for everyone. It takes a lot of talent and a lot more desire. In that way, it’s no different than football or any elite profession. I don’t believe every student should take calculus, just as I don’t believe every child should play football. But I believe every child should learn how to think through a problem, just as I believe every child should learn what it means to be tough.
Success in any field requires a combination of ability and commitment. In academics, those who do have the ability often lack imagination, as I did in high school. Why is that? Perhaps it is because more often than not, children aren’t aware of the amazing and awe-inspiring things they can do with their gifts. They don’t know what they can do and what they can be.
Why don’t our most talented math students know who John Von Neumann is? Why do American students consistently rank so low among developed countries in mathematics? Why do football coaches seem to love football more than math teachers love math?
John Urschel is a guard for the Baltimore Ravens and a mathematician. He will be delivering a keynote address at the Project Lead The Way Summit in March 2016.