"Parents based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to find a tutor for a infant.
Many of submissions have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice across the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and living two backgrounds. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will will not instantly produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
