"A family based in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and qualified educator to support their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted interest throughout the press, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned 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 waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", replied he. "They know this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been raised knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not instantly achieve the goal they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
