"A family based in North London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it might be the most important part of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to find a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the media, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the atypical nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He explained that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been raised knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily create the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
