The part that rang false for me was equating "learning more" with "earning less". In my experience that's been a false dichotomy. If it's obvious that you'll learn more in one job, then yes, take that one. But if you're choosing between two jobs and you can't decide which one will teach you more, pick the one that pays more, because:
1.) Paying you more indicates that they have more to pay; their top-line is higher, which means they're probably in a more lucrative and dynamic industry.
2.) Paying you more means they value you more, which indicates they may have more work for you to do and be willing to give you more responsibility.
In my first job out of college, I had a choice between 3 jobs. One was a public radio non-profit that needed a techie. One was a VC-funded financial software startup. One was a bootstrapped financial software startup. The last offered me about $15K/year more than the others. When I left it two years later, I'd seen two products through from idea to launch. The VC-funded startup actually had a better outcome for the company (they got bought), but I wouldn't have seen much if any of that cash, and since their product was already pretty set in stone by the time I was interviewing, I wouldn't have had nearly as much of a chance to learn and make decisions.
1.) Paying you more indicates that they have more to pay; their top-line is higher, which means they're probably in a more lucrative and dynamic industry.
2.) Paying you more means they value you more, which indicates they may have more work for you to do and be willing to give you more responsibility.
In my first job out of college, I had a choice between 3 jobs. One was a public radio non-profit that needed a techie. One was a VC-funded financial software startup. One was a bootstrapped financial software startup. The last offered me about $15K/year more than the others. When I left it two years later, I'd seen two products through from idea to launch. The VC-funded startup actually had a better outcome for the company (they got bought), but I wouldn't have seen much if any of that cash, and since their product was already pretty set in stone by the time I was interviewing, I wouldn't have had nearly as much of a chance to learn and make decisions.