Serious Debate: Should Teachers, Professors & Mentors etc. be payed more

Alright, so I've brought this up to many of my Teachers. From middle school to high school asking them, "Do you think some of teaching job should be one of the best paying jobs?" Just think about it, they are the basis of us learning stuff, we are basically nothing without teachers. They teach us to be doctors, they teach us to be whatever you want to be. But the highest I've seen so far was like $40,000.00 per year. Has anyone seen a higher minimumwage price? This is honestly ridiculous.