"Parents located in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the crucial aspect of this unique position posting, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have now been submitted since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the news, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.
He explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", answered he. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who express those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and living dual heritages. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can possibly impart the qualities of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly create the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the fact that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
