"A family located in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally skip the wording "initial stages" as just figurative language.
But, it may be the most significant element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest in the press, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the atypical nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied he. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily create the goal they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
