CL, I agree with your comments. I believe that testing can be valuable in self-appraisal and student motivation when crafted carefully and used in moderation.
The toxicity in my subject line was directed at "industry". The United States has created several adjunct education industries which are seen by some to threaten the egalitarian nature of primary and secondary education in the U.S.

I prefer only to speak from my experience in China which has been in several public universities, one private university and one private 'language training school' which is part of a name national chain. My comments may or may not be applicable elsewhere.

The private English training schools in China are critiqued often enough on this site and several others. There is no need for additional horror stories.

What may be worth noting is the infiltration of Chinese Universities by testing corporations; in the universities where I have worked IELTS and BC are present. I have observed both Chinese and Foreign teachers doing 'side-line' work for the testing centers, although it is technically against (albeit routinely ignored) foreign national visa regulations and education department guidelines for Chinese teachers. Cash changes hands both from students to teachers and from testing centers to teachers. One University has an IELTS center on campus and off-campus complex where, well-informed rumor has it, the Dean of the foreign language school has a financial stake. I'm told that the actual cost of IELTS testing is insignificant to the cost of test-preparation for the students who 'choose' to participate.

In another University where I taught, in a non-language department where literally none of the students wanted to travel overseas for further education, ALL ENGLISH COURSE TESTING was done using IELTS rubrics. Not surprisingly, that university also had an on-campus IELTS center.

I'm not qualified to comment on the accuracy or validity of IELTS or any other test. I suspect it would be a valuable tool for a Western university to gauge the language skills of a foreign student to successfully participate in that university's curricula.

Given the nature of the IELTS activity in my former universities however, I would caution those institutions from taking IELTS and BC grades as an accurate measure of Chinese student ability.

Referring back to the article, I have personaly observed how test-preparation has 'sucked the air' out of the English department staff meetings that I have attended and 'sucked the RMB' out of the bank accounts of the parents of the students whom I teach.