"A family based in North London seeks an exceptional and experienced educator to assist their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
Yet, it could be the most significant element of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have similar doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a representation of English culture, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
