But don't give me some bogus answer that it's training for college and that since failing public schools use them, we should rely heavily on them, too.
Never said that either. Are you saying that since the public schools do something, that's sufficient reason not to? No, forget the public schools entirely, the decision of whether or not to test stands on merit alone. There will be testing in high school and college, and math drill does improve math skills. If we don't agree on that, I'm not going to argue the point further, it'll just irritate everyone. This will be my last post.
Back in the dark ages (JK; it was the early 90s) when we started, I heard from lots of homeschoolers who were doing it in order to avoid testing. Now I'm pretty sure that you and your siblings were homeschooled before I started, and I'd be very surprised if your mom doesn't know about this category of concern.
Yes, but it was to avoid the state doing the testing, not so much to avoid testing per se. Also keep in mind also that tests, which give you a benchmark to measure progress, are not necessarily the same thing as drills, which may be given for the sole purpose of improving mental computation speed. You might support testing and not drills, or drills and not testing.