"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have now been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted interest throughout the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that despite initial doubt, he found the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
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 learning at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had moved from China to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
