Teachers often like to sound high-minded when it comes to talking about actual results. I don't care if you're "fostering a love of learning" if the kids in your class aren't reading at grade-level. Less "fostering" and more "reading, writing and rithmetic."
Very few of my teachers from the 60s and 70s remain alive but I'd sure like to have had this type of discussion with them. I have fond memories of lots of "fostering" going on at the same time as the 3Rs. I did have a great conversation with my 6th grade teacher/principal after I was an adult, through college and the military and out in the world of work. He had some interesting recollections about class sizes in those "Baby Boom" days (ca.1966), with my group having about 35 students. I suspect such a class size would induce an attack of "the vapors" for today's teachers.