"A family located in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the anonymous family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have those reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
