🔗 Share this article

"A family located in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."

When reading this post, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.

But, it could be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.

Numerous of submissions have now been sent in since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".

In recent few weeks, the post has received interest across the press, with many wondering why?

Forward-Thinking Method

Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of first doubt, he found the idea "visionary", and "advanced".

When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.

Nevertheless, they clarified 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 set in".

What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?

It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".

He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their younger child.

The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.

Natural Absorption

"Much of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.

It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.

The consultant explained the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.

Cost Not Relevant

The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.

More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".

In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.

"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.

However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?

"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.

Impractical

Several in the tutoring industry who express these concerns.

An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."

Peter noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.

"The idea that one individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.

"From my perspective, employing a typically English tutor from infancy will not automatically create the goal they hope for.

"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."

He added: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Purchasing UK Culture

Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and marketed.

"I believe the situation that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating