"A household located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the term "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the most significant aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the news, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they wish to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who express similar concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
