Boys to Men

First Broadcast:

Black British boys are failing: failing at school, failing to get jobs and failing to break out of a cycle of low expectation followed by low achievement. They get far fewer GCSEs than white boys, and are three times more likely to end up in jail. Even kids that show promise at primary school seem to lose their way in their teens.

Controversial academic Tony Sewell believes that he has a solution that will stop some of Britain's brightest black kids straying from the straight and narrow.

A group of 12 year olds spend the summer away from their parents at the University of West Indies, where they are hothoused in an intense study of medicine and science. When they return they continue to receive tailored special activities and lessons for three years.

But will this plan find the next generation of academic black leaders?

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