"A household residing in North London seeks an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily miss the term "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it may be the most significant element of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have now been received since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained attention throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the atypical nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the period of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the attributes of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
