The rapid expansion of the Common School Movement in the decades following the Civil War — and the decentralized nature of common schools — created a great demand for teachers. As a result, the bar for teachers was set relatively low and administrators did not discriminate according to credentials. (Labaree 2004) This mindset carried over to the practice of normal schools in the early 20th century, where market pressure to produce teachers in great quantities caused a sacrifice in quality (Levine 2006). The need for teachers was great, and great numbers of people became teachers; it wasn’t a profession with the same kind of exclusivity as being a doctor or a lawyer, for example (Labaree 2008).
Recall also that during this period, the country’s network of private, local normal schools coalessed into state-run public normal schools, and subsequently into teachers’ colleges within state universities. This transformation had the effect of making teacher education more focused on subject matter and less on pedagogy (Levine 2006, Labaree 2008).
As the demand for teachers grew, the profession opened itself to women. Where once teaching had been primarily a man’s profession, it became dominated by women. Labaree (2008) posits that this shift can be attributed both to the contemporary perception that nurturing young children was “women’s work” and the realization that it was cheaper to employ women than men.
“Becoming defined as women’s work has never helped the status of an occupation.” (Labaree 2008, pp. 298)