But it overlooks the fact that, in the factory production example (an industry where I work), we get quality certified raw material and parts to work with and teachers, in most districts, do not. Many of their charges come from households where parenting is a joke if, indeed, it exists at all.
And teacher pay is very much a function of what the local district wants to spend. Here in SW Pennsylvania, most districts will get 100 applications or more for every opening advertised because the pay is great, probably more than they deserve in many cases. This is because the system is rigged to the point that they essentially elect their own school boards.
Meanwhile, go 100 miles or so away into West Virginia, and anyone fresh out of college can land a job in teaching because the pay is not so great and the openings to applications rate is not so skewed as it is here. They don't elect their own school boards either.
In today’s labor market, we are having to reteach high school graduates basic math skills.
It drives me nuts. A person with a high school degree is unable to add subtract, multiply or divide.