"A family residing in north London seeks an remarkable and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the phrase "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant element of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted notice throughout the media, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must 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 him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The parents know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who share those reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of English culture, someone who can possibly transfer the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a typically UK tutor from early childhood will does not automatically produce the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
