🔗 Share this article

"A family located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."

When reading this post, you might naturally overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.

Yet, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.

Many of submissions have since been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".

In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted interest across the media, with several asking why?

Forward-Thinking Method

A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that despite initial doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".

When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.

But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".

But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?

It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".

He explained the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.

The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.

Osmotic Learning

"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.

It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.

Adam explained the tutor must be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.

Expense Not a Factor

The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.

Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.

"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.

But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?

"Certainly", said the CEO. "They know this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.

Overly Optimistic

A number of in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.

An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."

The expert wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.

"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, someone who can possibly transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he commented.

"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.

"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."

He stated: "The truth is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."

Acquiring Englishness

Naturally, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.

"I think the fact that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating