"Parents residing in North London wants to find an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "initial stages" as simple an expression.
However, it could be the most important element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the news, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid history to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter noted that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
