"A family residing in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant element of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have now been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite early scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," said the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they want to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The parents know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express those doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He noted that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not automatically achieve the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
