"A household based in north London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention across the press, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they want to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", answered he. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who share these doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of English culture, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily produce the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
