"A household residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as mere figurative language.
But, it might be the most significant aspect of this unique job advert, as it seeks to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been received since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial doubt, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the atypical character of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the start here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who have these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not instantly achieve the outcome they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
