"A family located in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it could be the most significant part of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted attention across the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding early doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the atypical nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor must be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must 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 the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", said he. "They understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express those reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He noted that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically achieve the goal they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the fact that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
