I find that this phrase is most often uttered in a condescending, yet full of pity, tone.
After all, teachers don't make much money
and that's how you win this game of life
right?
This question is always asked after I state my major,
There are so many things I want to say
and show
to the ones who think
teaching English is an obsolete profession.

They've never seen a teenager
construct a poem
so full of power and emotion
that she get a high
no drug can recreate.
A pen replacing needles and blunts,
ink spilling out instead of blood.

They've never heard the stories of students
whose lives were saved by poetry and literature,
a book page
bandaging the wounds
that come when the stone cold world
is thrown at you
over and over again.

They don't comprehend the feeling a teacher has
while watching his students walk the stage
or after,
when the **** hugs the nerd
because they bonded in his English class that year.

English classes remove the masks
children wear
to show the rainbow of colors
bursting through their eyes.

An English classroom is a safe place.

An English teacher is a safe place
to fall;
they will always prop you up with good books
and good advice.

So, to answer your question
Yes.
Yes I want to teach
my students to love
and read
and write
and think
and dream
forever leaving
remnants of my heart
in their open hands.