"A household based in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily miss the phrase "initial stages" as just figurative language.
However, it could be the most important part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received interest throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to cultivate.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and living both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from early childhood will does not automatically produce the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
