"A family based in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it could be the most significant element of this unique employment listing, as it aims to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they aim to cultivate.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly English tutor from infancy will does not instantly produce the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
