"A household located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the term "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most significant element of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that in spite of early doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the atypical nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically English tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
