"A household based in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified educator to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the term "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it may be the most significant element of this unique employment listing, as it aims to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained attention across the news, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share those reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a typically English tutor from infancy will not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
