"A family based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their smallest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it could be the most significant part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received notice across the news, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering 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 brought up experiencing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow transplant the attributes of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
