"A household residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received interest in the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
