"A family residing in north London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
But, it might be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received interest throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to cultivate.
He said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said he. "The family know this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
