[apersona]

From my perspective it looks like a good amount of teachers decided to give up a portion of the compensation earlier (i.e. they gave up good pay not when they're looking for another job in an industry they're already in, but they decided to give up good pay upon joining the industry).

It's like how artists/writers/game developers/etc. decide to go into their field even though they know that they could be making much more money in any other field.