"Parents based in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice throughout the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite first doubt, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said he. "The parents know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who share those reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from babyhood will does not automatically produce the result they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
