"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the wording "initial stages" as simple an expression.
Yet, it could be the most significant part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted notice throughout the news, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, stated that despite first scepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they aim to impart.
He said the tutor must be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", said he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from infancy will will not necessarily create the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
