"A household residing in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and qualified instructor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it may be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received interest throughout the news, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial skepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and living both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can act as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly produce the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
