"A family residing in north London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as just figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained interest in the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unusual aspect 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 postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He explained that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can possibly impart the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will does not automatically create the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
