I would say it's more akin to a huge portion of the population choosing to die than to sacrifice so those above them can live luxurious lives.

The only power the average worker/teacher has is their ability to say "No, I won't do that" and even then there is only power there if many are willing to stand and do that together. Sacrificing more and more so those above you can continue to say "see, it works fine. I can continue to extract as much capital out of this system as possible, because the teachers don't really need it" is a really terrible solution.

More workers need to say "NO", not bend over backwards because they are more empathetic than those at the top. The ones at the top count on that empathy and do use it against you.