"Parents located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it may be the most significant element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can in some way impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
