"A family residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified educator to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as just figurative language.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of applications have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the news, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told him they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a representation of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will does not automatically create the result they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
