"Parents based in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally miss the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the media, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite first scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unconventional nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to impart.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily achieve the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
