"A household residing in North London wants to find an exceptional and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the wording "beginning" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most important aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained interest in the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, stated that despite initial doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The family understand this may not work, 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 a concern," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who express these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
