"A household located in North London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily miss the phrase "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early doubt, he found the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
He said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have those reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had relocated from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will does not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
