"A household based in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally miss the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the most significant element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have since been received since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained interest in the media, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first doubt, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the goal they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
