"A household residing in north London seeks an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it could be the most important element of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received notice in the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding first doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified 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 bias had by then set in".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the outset here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will does not instantly create the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
