I don’t view it as an excuse by the educators - they don’t develop the curriculum, they just deliver it. And it is designed to teach the skills to pass the test - and in case you weren’t aware schools just do the minimum anymore. It’s all they can do because of the idiots who won’t help their kids at home so the curriculum has been dumbed down. Perhaps you haven’t seen in at the elementary level, but it will begin to show in Middle School and will slap you in the face in High School.
Point is: if they didn’t have some objective measure (the tests) they’d be even worse.