Do people ever scoff at your career? How do you react when they do?

When I tell people that I teach English as a Second Language (ESL), they immediately ask me what I want to do “after that.” When I explain that this is exactly what I want to be doing with my life, they seem surprised. This has happened at least 10 times in the past six months.

Situation: I have a full-time job teaching ESL composition at a university. I get paid well (plus full benefits), and most importantly, I adore my job. I completed an MA in Linguistics and two years of composition teaching/training in order to be qualified for this position. I’m not teaching the alphabet; I’m teaching advanced composition. Not that that matters, because I believe that all language teaching—or any kind of teaching, for that matter—is valuable.

Does this ever happen to you? How do you handle it?