"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of responses have now been sent in since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention throughout the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early skepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have those doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can act as a representation of English culture, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
