"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and experienced instructor to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique position posting, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted interest in the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, despite all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said he. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a representation of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
