"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
But, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received attention in the news, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of osmotic," stated Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will will not automatically achieve the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
