"Parents residing in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the wording "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have now been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that despite first scepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The family realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a representation of English culture, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
