"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and qualified educator to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it aims to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received interest in the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," explained Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", replied he. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will does not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
