>I'd argue that if you replaced school teachers with babysitters, the only catastrophe would be all those damaged egos. The keyword you used is "replaced", not

>I'd argue that if you replaced school teachers with babysitters, the only catastrophe would be all those damaged egos. The keyword you used is "replaced", not "do away with". Actually I think an argument could be made that teacher pay does already treat them somewhat as babysitters. Babysitters would likely be more expensive on an hour * kids basis than teachers given current babysitter rates. Anyways, you are right, wages are determined by "supply and demand", unfortunately collective bargaining is seen as a bad thing, whereas I see it just as another way for a truly "free market" to communicate the value of a job.