"Parents based in North London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily miss the wording "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of responses have since been received since the anonymous family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention across the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite early doubt, he considered the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express those reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the qualities of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
