Chapter 6

The couple of questions that come to my mind after reading this chapter is that , is teaching  considered to be an occupation for mainly women? Who are defined as the “good” and “Bad” Teachers?  What characteristics do those posses? I personally loved reading this chapter. It definitely emphasized how woman became more educated and more involved with the teaching world.  This chapter first talks about the success of common school movement.  The moves on to how woman were considered more ideal for teaching since they were more stable. Men moved on to jobs with better pay. Prior to the Civil War, teacher institutes provided teachers with instruction in the theory and practice of teaching School structures and procedures prepared students for the factory system. Both the feminization of teaching and the bureaucratic organizational model can be linked to the larger nineteenth-century societal beliefs in the supremacy of men over women and in women’s domain over the emotional sphere. In addition to teaching students to read, they were also taught how to behave with other human beings and how to become better people and add value to society. Female teachers went west for the ready availability of jobs.  Upon arriving in the West, teachers faced the harsh realities.  I feel we can still relate to back then. Although more men are joining teaching forces, teaching is still considered more as a job for females. It is quite shocking and we need to move away from that mentality. To this day, I still hear people saying “Oh teaching is a good occupation for mothers”. I really get annoyed when I hear that. Teachers deserve same respect as any other professions. We need to keep in mind that teachers help with the foundation of our knowledge