WE live in a world in which more care than ever before has to be taken to avoid causing offence. Nursery rhymes have been rewritten for schools, and words like 'blacklist' and 'blackspot' have become politically incorrect because of their negative connotations.

So imagine the reaction if a white person had suggested that underachieving black boys should be segregated and taught in separate classes.

No one in any kind of authority would dare to have made such a suggestion for fear of being branded a racist. Their jobs would probably have been on the line.

But the suggestion was made by a black man - Trevor Phillips, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality, who believes it might help break through "the wall of attitude that surrounds black boys".

While we do not doubt Mr Phillips' sincerity in believing classroom segregation could be beneficial, and applaud his courage in saying so, it cannot be the right way forward.

It is, of course, entirely justifiable to teach children in separate classrooms because they need extra support or because they disrupt other pupils. But to send a boy to a separate classroom because he is black would surely outweigh any educational advantages.

The world needs greater integration, and less emphasis on the colour of a human being's skin, rather than risk stigmatising young people who happen to be black.