"Parents based in north London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it could be the most significant aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice across the press, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that despite initial doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told him they did not want the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, 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 successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have those doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
