"A family based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it could be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the media, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that despite initial skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed him they hoped to prevent history to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and living both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can in some way impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the result they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
