"A family located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the phrase "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to find a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained notice throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the atypical nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam explained the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied he. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
