"A family residing in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received interest throughout the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the atypical character of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to instil.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who express these concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can somehow impart the attributes of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily create the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
