Educating a Baby to Grow into an 'English Gentleman' – Is It Worth the Cost?

"A household located in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and experienced educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."

When reading this listing, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as just figurative language.

However, it may be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a infant.

Hundreds of responses have since been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".

During the past few weeks, the listing has received attention across the news, with many asking why?

Progressive Approach

A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that despite initial scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".

When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how young their son is.

Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".

But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?

It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".

He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.

The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.

Osmotic Learning

"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.

It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to instil.

Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.

Money No Object

The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.

Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.

"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.

However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by regardless?

"Absolutely", answered Adam. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.

Impractical

There are some in the education sector who express these concerns.

An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."

Peter noted that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.

"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.

"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily produce the result they desire.

"I never had such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they desire for their son."

He added: "The truth is, personal identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."

Purchasing UK Culture

Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and commercialized.

"In my view the fact that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating