"A household located in north London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally skip the wording "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that despite first scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor must be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about success and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", said he. "The family know this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have similar reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been educated understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
