"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the wording "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have already been received since the unnamed family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the press, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly create the goal they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
