🔗 Share this article

"A family located in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."

Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the term "first-steps" as just an expression.

But, it could be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.

Many of submissions have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".

In recent few weeks, the advert has gained notice in the media, with numerous questioning why?

Forward-Thinking Method

The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".

When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.

However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".

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

It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".

He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.

The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.

Osmotic Learning

"A great deal of the learning at the start here is rather osmotic," stated Adam.

It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to cultivate.

Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.

Cost Not Relevant

The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.

More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.

"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.

Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?

"Certainly", answered he. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.

Impractical

There are some in the private teaching field who have similar reservations.

Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."

Peter explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.

"The notion that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.

"From my perspective, engaging a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily create the result they desire.

"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they desire for their son."

He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."

Purchasing UK Culture

Of course, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.

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