"Parents based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily miss the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have now been received since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention across the news, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a typically UK tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
