"A household residing in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the news, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have these concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised knowing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
