"Parents based in North London wants to find an remarkable and experienced instructor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of first skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid history to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have similar concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically British tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
