Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.

The remark contrasts society’s professed reverence for education with its economic choices. By juxtaposing teachers with plumbers, it highlights a perceived moral inconsistency: people willingly pay well for the maintenance of property and comfort, yet accept comparatively low pay for those shaping children’s intellect and character. The phrase “modern cynics and skeptics” suggests Kennedy is rebutting a fashionable dismissiveness about idealism in public life, insisting that a nation’s priorities are revealed in budgets and wages, not slogans. The line functions as an argument for elevating the status and compensation of educators as a civic investment rather than a discretionary expense.