"A household residing in north London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the press, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid history to recur with their infant.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have these doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the result they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
