This is very true. I just don't like the idea of "Pay up because we idealists think it's urgent. It should be important like surgeons." It's very hard to get

This is very true. I just don't like the idea of "Pay up because we idealists think it's urgent. It should be important like surgeons." It's very hard to get to a social change to pay them like Singapore. I think the means to this ends is via charter schools. Parents know who the good teachers are, and they fight to get taught by them. Charter schools have found a way in some cases to pay up. I think parental voting (with their feet) can be even better than test-based metrics, which are imperfect at best. (Everything not on the test gets neglected) This is a very complicated problem.