"A family based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled instructor to assist their smallest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained interest throughout the media, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, 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 lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The family realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly produce the outcome they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
