"Parents residing in North London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
But, it might be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been sent in since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding initial doubt, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", might the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who share those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a typically British tutor from infancy will not automatically create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
