Educating a Baby to Become an 'English Gentleman' – Is It Worth the Cost?
"A household based in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "first-steps" as simple an expression.
Yet, it could be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted interest throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", replied he. "They know this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have these reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been educated experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can possibly impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating