"A household residing in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally skip the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received interest in the media, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", replied he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have those reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
