"A household located in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to support their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the phrase "beginning" as simple an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important element of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of early scepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they aim to instil.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", answered he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
