A spouter complaining about the PARCC tests remarked, "I would rather have my child spend more time learning math, reading, phonics, etc. than being taught to the test....They show how well a student can take a test. Some students are not great test takers or are not well versed using a computer, these students will do poorly on the test." This is simply making excuses. Standardized tests for years have been used as an imperfect but fair judge of what a student has learned and retained and how well that student can use logic and reasoning. This excuse is just more "dumbing down" of America.