Family seeks £180,000 tutor for one-year-old child to help him become ‘an English gentleman’
For the average parent of a one-year-old, a “good day” can be found in the few brief moments where their offspring happily totter and stack several blocks together before the brief, glowing mirage gives way to a desert of sleep deprivation and overflowing nappies.
But for the more enthusiastic breed of parents who see themselves as ambitious guardians of their children’s lifetime prospects, this is a ridiculously low bar.
A family in north London is taking serious precautions. a job posting inside TES A private tutor is offering one lucky candidate £180,000 a year to successfully turn his one-year-old son into an “English gentleman”.
This doesn’t mean just giving him a bowler hat and sending him off on his merry journey; It also includes embarking on a cultural enrichment program to prepare him to access the country’s most respected schools and universities.
The ad states: “The role focuses on immersing the child in British culture, values and intricacies before any cultural biases are established. It aims to stimulate the one-year-old’s innate curiosity and capacity for immersion and ensure that what is learned is of the highest quality.”
“Their ideal teacher would be someone who is well-educated, has a large vocabulary, and speaks with familiar pronunciation.”
The advert states that the instructor should generally “provide a comprehensive British cultural environment,” be imbued with knowledge of Western classical music, and also help expose the toddler to “a range of quintessentially British experiences that will help hone his habits, outlook, tastes and sporting preferences.”
“There is no reason why the child cannot visit Lord’s, Wimbledon and Twickenham, for example, and learn age-appropriate information about cricket, tennis, rugby and other sports such as horse riding (including polo) and rowing.”
He adds: “The family hope that in time their son will be accepted into a top school such as Eton, St Paul’s, Westminster or Harrow. [the] “The child’s education begins to prepare him for this kind of life, even at an early age.”
This is not the parents’ first child. The ad features an older sibling who was not introduced to British culture early enough for his parents to “achieve their goals”.
“At just one year old, the child is at an important stage of early development,” the ad states. “He comes from a multilingual family and his parents want to raise a truly bicultural child. When they started working with this child’s older brother at the age of five, they felt that even this was too late to achieve their goals, so they are now looking for a private tutor.”
While people may scoff at the idea of taking a screaming one-year-old to a polo match or somehow preparing a rebellious toddler for Eton, even for many adults living in this rarefied world, these behaviors are never completely out of whack anyway.
However, it is widely accepted that supporting children in their early years gives them the best start in life, especially since 90 percent of brain development occurs before the age of five.
The NHS emphasizes the importance of these early years, stating that “the experiences of a child’s early years shape their rapidly developing brain.”
