"Parents residing in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained interest across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", replied he. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been educated knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the goal they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
