"A household based in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and skilled instructor to support their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily overlook the wording "beginning" as simple an expression.
However, it could be the most important element of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite early skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", might the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly impart the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically English tutor from babyhood will not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
