"Is there anything to prevent the pay for our most important and meaningful jobs from approaching zero?" One way is to raise the bar so it is harder to become

"Is there anything to prevent the pay for our most important and meaningful jobs from approaching zero?" One way is to raise the bar so it is harder to become a teacher and increase pay. The problem though, is in the U.S., pay differential is very much geographical. There are plenty of teachers in the NY and NJ making $125,000, whereas in other parts of the country, it's less than 1/3rd of that.