"A family residing in north London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the term "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice in the news, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of initial doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
He explained the tutor had to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "English culture", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will does not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
