“I asked a guy once; What does it say about priorities when people are willing to pay a mechanic two to three times per hour to work on a car, what they are willing to pay a teacher to teach a classroom full of children?”
Hmmm...if the mechanic told me it would take him 12 years to fix my car, and that there was a good chance it still wouldn’t run right, I wouldn’t pay HIM much either!
If your car was something you expected to last 80 years, you'd put money into getting it done right.
It's a self-fulfilling cycle -- keep pay low, many good people won't stay, but people who aren't so good will.
The ones who aren't so good get the attention, so that is used as justification for low pay.
So many of the really good ones don't stay.
So that becomes justification for keeping the pay low.
It isn't the trite, "If it took a mechanic 12 years to fix a car non sequitor you toss that's the issue.
It's more the "me" syndrome and the need for immediate gratification.
Spend money on your car -- it makes you feel good now.
Spend money on your kid's education -- it takes longer and is something you have to put some effort of your own into.