"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily miss the term "beginning" as just figurative language.
But, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a infant.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite early skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to impart.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who have similar doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can possibly transfer the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the result they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
