Education is a public good. It’s precisely the kind of thing markets are not great at on their own.
That doesn’t mean that education as we have it now is perfect, but you also don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater and return to the middle ages in order to try solving some of its problems.
I disagree. I find it funny, when libertarians and free-market advocates say "if you classify something a public good you turn the workers in it into slaves" that the same people who disagree with that often complain that essential workers in those fields aren't paid enough. I think markets could sort this out beautifully: if it's really so essential they'd get paid more.
The teachers are essentially saying "treat us better and pay us adequately or you're going back to the middle ages, like it or not, it's not our doing, it will be your doing and your undoing." They don't like that some of us don't believe that. Well, if it's true, show us. Quit.
That doesn’t mean that education as we have it now is perfect, but you also don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater and return to the middle ages in order to try solving some of its problems.