"Parents residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled instructor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "beginning" as mere an expression.
However, it could be the most important element of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a infant.
Many of applications have since been received since the unidentified family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention across the news, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they wish to instil.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety 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 develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude 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 explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
