"Parents residing in north London wants to find an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that despite initial skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who have those reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter noted that he had moved from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
