"A household residing in North London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the media, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who have these reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He noted that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
