"Parents residing in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the unidentified family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention in the news, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, said that despite early scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
But, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "The parents understand this could fail, 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 irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share those reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised understanding and living both cultures. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will does not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
