"A household residing in north London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention across the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to him they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", answered he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who have these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can somehow transplant the qualities of a English gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a typically British tutor from babyhood will not instantly produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
