"Parents located in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
However, it might be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the unidentified family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor had to be someone who went to "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 doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have those reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
