"A household residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they explained 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 stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they want to impart.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have those doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and living dual heritages. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
