"Parents located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the news, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual character of their request, 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 postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the outset here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will will not automatically achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
