"A household residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have now been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained interest across the press, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the outset here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor must be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", answered he. "The parents know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who express similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can function as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly produce the result they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
