"Parents located in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to assist their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Many of responses have now been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained notice in the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding early skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the start here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to instil.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and living dual heritages. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will not instantly produce the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
