"A family based in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the most important aspect of this unique position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received attention across the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that despite first scepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to instil.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have those reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman onto a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
