"A family residing in North London wants to find an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily overlook the term "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to hire a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted notice across the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of early doubt, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He said the tutor must be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced 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.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
