"Parents residing in north London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most important element of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have since been received since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor must be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed him the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of English culture, an individual who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
