"A family residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important element of this unique position posting, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained interest throughout the media, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unconventional character of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
He said the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He noted that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and living dual heritages. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can possibly impart the qualities of a English gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
