Some of my teachers regressed me. Some of my teachers SAVED me. In particular, at a formative age (and when we only had one teacher for all subjects):

- 8 year old: I still feel very uncomfortable (and really quite sad), when I think of my classroom experience. Horrible. I regressed and was getting Ds and Es. The teacher was dismissive and belittling. I stagnated socially.

- 9 year old: Average teacher / no particular change.

- 10 year old: Incredible teacher that brought me from D/E to A/B, but more importantly brought me out of my shell.

Perhaps others in my 8YO class had different experiences, but regardless - I can't reconcile your statement "there's very little evidence that teachers matter at all" to my experience.

Perhaps you're meaning 'in terms of skill level', and perhaps increased wages wouldn't correlate to 'better' teachers as I am defining 'better'. But 'they aren't individually important and almost anybody can do it' doesn't strike me as true at all.

Edit: Also, I was having.... a bad time, at home and outside of it (No shade on my parents). I am so thankful of my 10YO teacher. They were the only person able to see it and in a position to help, and help they did (as much as could be done).