"A household based in north London seeks an extraordinary and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it might be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained interest across the news, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unusual character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised understanding and practicing both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
