Why do the Jedi still teach forms for lightsaber combat?

Question

The 7 lightsaber combat forms are here for a reason. Each one was created to combat a weakness that the prior form had. For example:

Form II, also known as Makashi, The Way of the Ysalamiri, or The Contention Form, was the second of the seven classic forms of lightsaber combat. Developed for the purpose of lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat, to address the failings of Form I, Makashi was the most dueling-centric of the seven classical forms.

_{Wookieepedia, Form II}

But, in the entire 25,000-300,000 years that the Jedi Order stood they still pushed these forms and these forms alone. Some notable Jedi/Sith have mixed forms, such as Count Dooku; since his form and lightsaber itself was relatively weak against blaster deflection, he incorporated some Niman into his form (he used elements of Niman again when he fought Ventress and Savage Opress, holding off Ventress in a blade lock while holding Savage down with bouts of Force Lightning).

Obi-Wan Kenobi also utilized form mixing into his combat style. When he dueled Darth Vader on Mustafar and was kicked he immediately used that energy of that kick into a flip and landed on his feet. He also used a very basic Form IV aboard the Invisible Hand in Revenge of the Sith in order to lure Dooku into a false sense of security. Form mixing is also seen in Anakin Skywalker's first duel with Count Dooku when Obi-Wan threw his saber to aid him in defeating Dooku. In all of these cases, form mixing was used to great effect by the best practitioners of their chosen form.

But by incorporating elements from another form into your own formidable one is where we see truly skilled lightsaber duelist. If the Jedi Order taught this the entire order would have been far better at lightsaber combat. They might have survived Order 66 using this technique, or even managed to kill Darth Vader.

Answer 1

Because George Lucas was inspired by Kendo (and karate movies)

Meta Answer: And Kendo has forms - there are 10 called Katas.

In-universe: There is only a teacher and pupil Sith. It's unlikely a Jedi would face a Sith opponent. Which meant Jedis in prequel time very rarely fought other Jedi/Sith to the death.

There were schools filled with Jedi, each of which needed to be educated in about the same way. Hence - forms. The forms can easily be shared across teachers and schools. Each master Jedi can only educate so many padawans, so it's great for both evaluation purposes by the council, and friendly rivalries between Jedis or schools (of which there are at least 3). Everyone knows and is measured by the ancient yard-stick. Just like in modern martial arts.

With all the other force powers, it's unlikely a Jedi/Non-Jedi fight would be determined by light-saber skills. This would have made light-sabers less for winning a fight and more for announcing status and comparing your skills against other Jedi.

Remember, Jedis can also control the weak-minded, throw objects with the force, and see the future. Most martial arts stress avoiding a fight whenever possible. As a Jedi, there are much easier ways to win a fight with a non-Jedi like literally pulling the rug out from under someone.

Finally, as order 66 showed, light-sabers are not effective against large groups. They're really only effective against other Jedi that can deflect long-range attacks. As I pointed out above, few Jedi fought to the death in prequel time.

Even in our world, MMA fighters likely learned at least 1 martial art "the long way" and were taught forms. They may not use them in combat, but they used them for practice.

As you mention, battle-hardened Jedi did start using a more MMA style.

Answer 2

The forms are the basic movements once you learn them you can put them together in any way you wish when you fight as we see with the duels you mentioned and others.

You can teach someone a skill you cannot teach them to be skilled