25 Reasons Why ECA’S Are Better Than Academic Classes:
1. In ECA’S young men are considered
active contributors rather than passive recipients by their
coaches/teachers
and themselves.
2. In ECA’S young men are
always encouraged to excel.
3. In ECA’S young men are
honored, and so are their coaches/teachers.
4. In ECA’S a young man can
let the team down.
5. In ECA’S practice and repetition
are considered honorable.
6. In ECA’S unexpected things
happen all the time, and young men are required/expected to deal with them.
7. In ECA’S practice is seldom
limited to 45 minutes.
8. In ECA’S homework is of
a different type than the work that is done at practice.
9. In ECA’S emotions and human
contact are expected parts of the work. Young men learn to gain praise
that
results
in their happiness, and to eschew criticism that leaves them emotionally
neutral, or unhappy.
10. In ECA’S new skills are added in a
sequential order that require 90% mastery of previous skills, and that
ensure
mastery
after appropriate practice.
11. In ECA’S after new skills have been
mastered young men are expected to be able to perform them on command,
or on their
own volition whenever they feel the application of the new skill is appropriate
12. In ECA’S participants assume that
as the expectations for mastery are raised so to is the length of practice
time.
13. In ECA’S young men generally get to
choose their own roles.
14. In ECA’S it is expected that the more
experienced young men will teach the less skilled participants.
15. In ECA’S there is an abundance of
individual instruction and encouragement from adults and more
talented/experienced
peers.
16. In ECA’S self-esteem in young men
is built by earning praise for effort and excellence, while mediocrity
and
poor effort
are identified and criticized.
17. In ECA’S the adults who participate
are genuinely interested.
18. In ECA’S volunteers from the community
are sought after and utilized.
19. In ECA’S ability, responsibility,
and achievement are not necessarily linked to age or size.
20. In ECA’S are more than the sum of
their parts.
21. In ECA’S public performances are expected.
22. In ECA’S performance is continually
reviewed and critiqued.
23. In ECA’S young men are expected to
perform at or above their level of ability.
24. In ECA’S feedback (gratification)
is instantaneous and continual. (What I refer to as slot-machine
psychology).
25. In ECA’S participants wear uniforms
that identify them as part of an elite group that they are proud to be
a part of.
So, what’s the point of all of this?
I believe that the more we can get academic classes to look like ECA’s
and SEC’s the
more we can help students reach levels
of mastery that they won’t reach in classes that are run in the same old
way.