"A household located in North London wants to find an remarkable and skilled tutor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, said that in spite of initial scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "They know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can function as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the expert thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
