"A family residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced tutor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally miss the wording "beginning" as mere an expression.
But, it might be the most significant element of this unique job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have since been received since the unidentified family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted interest across the media, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding early doubt, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
Adam explained the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically achieve the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
