Through brain research and human development we know now that there is more to education then drills and memorization with rewards and punishments. It seems that the role of the teacher during this time was to reinforce specific behaviors that aligned with behavior expectations outside the classroom. Most of these classical behaviorists are conducting their research alongside the Industrial Revolution and scientific discoveries like the Cell Theory. Historically, researching how the environment affected behavior made sense. There are no longer farms but you are seeing a rise in factory and infrastructure work. This was before worker unions (or during) so I'm sure that factory owner wanted to know more about how to get the most from their employee. Now that work force is changing (think technology jobs) the classrooms are changing to fit that mold like flexible seating to mirror the flexible tech office. So I guess in a way the role of the teacher even today is to help mirror and prepare for the outside workforce