"A family based in North London wants to find an remarkable and experienced tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the term "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the most important element of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the news, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding early skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express these concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not instantly create the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
