Educating a Toddler to Become an 'English Gentleman' – Does It Justify the Money?
"Parents residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it could be the most significant part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the unidentified family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention across the press, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
However, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who share those concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will does not instantly produce the result they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating