"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily overlook the term "beginning" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the media, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of first doubt, he found the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have those doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
