Reply #22: Not at all true. Apples and oranges.

[RaleighNCDUer]

If there were five million professional athletes in this country, and five thousand top-flight teachers, you'd see teachers pulling in the big bucks and being featured guests on talk shows, while the athletes were worried about the next round of budget cuts.

Take the salaries of the top 5000 athletes in the country and compare them to the salaries of the top 5000 educators. Sure, there's still a big discrepancy, but the top educators don't have the networks clammoring after them. How much does the Chancellor of your state college system make? Upwards of 3/4 million dollars, I'd bet. In athletics terms, 7.5 million for a ten year contract. Compare that to a ten year middle school teacher.

Scarcity and public presence. That's what makes a Vick worth more than a paramedic. It has nothing to do with what the public 'values' and a lot to do with a wide-spread base contributing pennies apiece to the upward flow of fortune. Teachers and paramedics are not 'up' and don't have a wide base contributing to them. Top athletes, movie stars, superstar musicians do.