"A household based in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.
But, it could be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received attention across the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who share these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will does not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
