A freshman is not ready to be a section leader or a drum major. They've never seen it and they have no idea what's involved. How do you lead a group of juniors or seniors with TONS more experience? It isn't about clearly stating the expectations. It's about the students have the maturity and responsibility to do the job and that takes more than knowing the expectations. We did usually put a freshman on the uniform crew so that they could learn. All of the freshman were loading crew on game days because they learned how to load a truck, (so that when they were going to contest in the Spring they knew how to load a truck).

Not all students are leaders. Not all leaders are good leaders. Not all band directors are good leaders or even know how to train leaders.

Sharing expectations is one thing. Having learned an 80 set show before trying to teach someone that has while you haven't is a very important skill.

Look at NFL coaches. They can coach fundamentals because they learned the fundamentals. Especially position coaches. Nobody is coaching a professional sport that hasn't played said sport. It's the same thing with our student leaders. They can't teach and coach what they've never done.