"A family based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to support their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the most important element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of responses have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received interest across the media, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, said that in spite of initial scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the start here is rather osmotic," stated Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses 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, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who have similar reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily produce the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the situation that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
