"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "beginning" as mere an expression.
Yet, it may be the most significant part of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the media, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding first scepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about success and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", replied he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will not automatically create the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
