"A household located in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it might be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the unnamed family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained notice in the news, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", said he. "They understand this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who share these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
