Educating a Baby to Develop into an 'English Gentleman' – Is It Worth the Cost?
"Parents residing in north London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally skip the term "beginning" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received notice across the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of first doubt, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the outset here is kind of osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can possibly transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the result they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating