"Parents based in north London seeks an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the news, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not instantly produce the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the fact that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
