"A family based in North London wants to find an remarkable and qualified educator to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily miss the term "beginning" as simple an expression.
But, it might be the most significant element of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the press, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early doubt, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
However, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been brought up understanding and practicing both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
