Educating a Baby to Grow into an 'British Gentleman' – Does It Justify the Cost?
"A household located in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their smallest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the most significant element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the press, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
Adam said the tutor had to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who express those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a representation of English culture, an individual who can possibly transplant the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the result they want.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating