"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it may be the crucial element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not instantly achieve the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the fact that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
