I completely agree that teachers who are excellent at teaching deserve to earn more than teachers who are incompetent. This doesn't in any way conflict with scarcity. Indeed, it is somewhat the whole point of scarcity, or "replace-ability." Construction workers get paid little compared to a plumber, because virtually anyone can competently hold up a stop sign, and the people who tend to hold up stop signs don't have better, higher paying alternatives. Thus there is no incentive to pay construction workers exorbitantly because if they turn the job down virtually any one else is an effective candidate for replacement, or, in other words: potential construction workers are not scarce. Plumbers on the other hand, are more scarce and harder to replace because it requires a substantial amount of training, experience, and expertise. Scarcity pricing can occasionally create some perverse outcomes, like in Hollywood where famous actors get paid tens of millions to do relatively little work precisely because that particular actor or actress is irreplaceable, or scarce. There is, after all, only one Angeline Jolie.

Teachers, as I've already pointed out, are not scarce. Often there are several for any single teaching position. What is arguably scarce are effective teachers, and a legitimate argument could be made that they deserve higher pay relative to their colleagues because they are harder to replace.

Often, however, people can get muddle up with the notion of just prices, or the "just price fallacy". They resent that lawyers and accountants can make hundreds of thousands for fairly simple, intellectual work, where as other workers make much less for often (literally) back breaking labour. It's fundamentally a misunderstanding of the very valuable and desirable function of markets to price and allocate goods, services, and labour.

There are many examples of what happens when the above isn't followed that should lead anyone to the same conclusion. The Fair Trade movements thought that the price of a cup of coffee was too low for the poor people in Columbia and Ecuador picking the beans so naturally they thought "we should just pay them more for their coffee!" In many cities around the world mayors noticed the discrepancy between the income of the poor and the cost of rent within the city, so naturally they thought "we should just cap how much you can charge for rent!" Farmers and Agricultural Firms in America were struggling so naturally lawmakers thought "we should just subsidize them!"

These initiatives respectively have created massive stockpiles of unwanted coffee, huge shortages in housing, and suicidal Mexican farmers who can't compete with cheap US crops. In every case they have tended to harm those who were supposed to be helped.

If what you say is true, why do bankers make so much and yet the US banking system is suffering from lack of sustainablity?

Also since many would stress that really good and effective teachers are scarce why shouldn't they be paid much more? Wouldn't a good teacher help create a more stable and just society economically and socially and thus schouldn't those teachers recieve a greater income?

Teachers usually teach more than one class in a given day. So it's more like 100-250 kids per year. Also, the teacher should get some small credit for all the good each of the kids go on to do.

I agree that the gains are hard to measure in monetary terms, that's the real problem.

Yes they should. Good teachers make a difference in people's lives. They mold young people into who they will become. So I agree that they should make a salary that is comparable to top bankers

Since you only said "Scarcity pricing is the only just and sustainable way to price things, including labor." I assumed, maybe wrongly, that statement implied that the salary difference between the two groups of workers was justifiable because of that economic viewpoint.

I understand there are a lot of teachers. The facts you pointed to back that up, but I think that those who can teach well, who are the best, should get paid more. That doesn't mean that every teacher should be paid more. I've known several teachers who shouldn't be teachers and maybe one of the problems lies with the retention rate of bad teachers.

Even though the supply and demand model suggests that teachers should have a lower wage to meet equilibrium, I personally feel that for the teaching profession as well as firefighters, police officers and such, their wage should be influenced on the social good they do for society regardless of the number of applicants there are to the fields. Just because there are a lot of applicants doesn't mean you need to hire them all. Pick the best teachers and pay them well for being the best teachers.

Teaching is a very hard business. It is a profession that is not appreciated these days. I feel that teachers deserve every opportunity for success.

"Knowledge is power."

I cannot think of truer words that were ever spoken.

Yes, they should make top dollar but I'm at a loss as to what yardstick they will use to measure the best! And what do you do with those who aren't the best? Do they just fall by the wayside or are they gotten rid of entirely? I think the entire pay structure should be changed to reflect the assets that teachers instill in our children. They are worth every dime we can pay them for what they do generation after generation.

Top bankers get paid a lot of money. Millions a year. I don't think that's responsible, irrespective of the profession. As someone in his education-vocation infancy, I think teachers should get paid more. But there's really no meaningful way to measure "good teachers".

Yes, teachers should be paid much higher salaries for what they do. Teachers probably shouldn't be paid so much that people join that career just for the money but the current wage for teachers is depressingly low.

A teacher is one of the most important professions, especially in a democracy like system, and a teacher shouldn't be required to work two jobs, or have their spouse work a job just so they can afford to live an adequate life.