In Kentucky, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Arizona, and Colorado, teachers are refusing to teach until lawmakers agree to raise their abysmal pay. Some have stormed statehouses, others have closed their schools and walked out. The mainstream press affords them lavish and highly sympathetic coverage, and Americans are naturally disposed to admire teachers. But is the striking teachers’ plight really so dire?

Consider Arizona. Teachers there say their pay is too low. Average teacher salary in the Grand Canyon State ranks near the bottom: 44^th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Education Association (NEA). Teachers want an immediate 20 percent pay increase. Tuesday was day 4 of their state-wide protest. It’s caused the closure of some 60 school districts in the state, which has left no fewer than 750,000 students without schooling. Governor Doug Ducey has agreed to meet the teachers’ demands by signing a bill that will raise vehicle fees, but the governor’s plan wouldn’t take full effect until 2020 in order to avoid overburdening the state’s budget. That’s not good enough for the teachers, though—they want the full 20 percent now—and so the strike continues.