"Parents residing in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as just figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have now been submitted since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the press, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding early skepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told him they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they want to instil.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a representation of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
