"Parents located in North London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained interest throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
He explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", answered he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will will not automatically achieve the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
