> They are not profitable at all, which would mean teachers would not get paid at all under your model of supply and demand. I think profit is used differently

> They are not profitable at all, which would mean teachers would not get paid at all under your model of supply and demand. I think profit is used differently depending on context. I would guess this is a reference to 'profit' in the economic sense of the word. In that case, that is profit for the firm i.e. taking salary into account. Another industry that's traditionally taken as an example of zero-profitability is local [non-chain] restaurants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-profit_condition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-profit_condition