"Parents based in North London seeks an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it may be the most significant part of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the press, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial scepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual character of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid history to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the outset here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can in some way impart the attributes of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
