"Parents based in North London seeks an exceptional and skilled instructor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally skip the wording "beginning" as mere an expression.
But, it may be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received interest throughout the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first doubt, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons 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 "British gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
Peter noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
