"Parents based in north London seeks an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received notice across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early scepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express those doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
