In some circles, but in others there is a lot of push that 'it's hard work' or 'privilege' that makes some students test better. Along with lots of excuses like '<Student> doesn't test well' instead of 'maybe <student> just isn't that smart'. Recent pushes by groups in CA (and elsewhere) to remove advanced math tracks and remove SAT requirements for college are examples I'd consider emblematic. See also the amount of consternation and hand-wringing over IQ[0] as a metric in other sub-threads.

>The more unseemly thing is to characterize entire groups of individuals with that.

Most definitely agree: imo a lot of harm has been done to rational discourse by persons trying to justify and enforce their pet views of ethnic superiority.

[0]Hardly the be-all and end-all of intelligence, but people don't seem to have nearly the same hang-ups when discussing e.g. athlete's 40-yard dash times and the implications thereof for their performance in a higher dimensional environment like a football game.