"A family based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to support their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the news, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He wrote that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
