His comments immediately prompted criticism from all sides. The Department for Education and Skills said the proposal would stigmatise Black pupils.
Head teachers questioned whether it would amount to illegal segregation.
No-one, it seems, thought the idea a good one.
Yet Phillips's assertion that something radical might be needed to improve the attainment of some of Britain's minority ethnic pupils was entirely justified. Black Caribbean, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi boys continue to fare badly at school. Black Caribbean pupils in particular seem to be falling behind their peers. A report on the subject commissioned by the London mayor, Ken Livingstone, and published last year described the problem in stark terms. It concluded that "the English schooling system has produced dismal academic results for a high percentage of Black pupils".
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