"A household located in north London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the phrase "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted interest across the news, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding initial 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 immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the period of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
