"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention across the press, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, said that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this guidance in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can possibly transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily produce the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
