"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily miss the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the news, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that despite first scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
But what did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed him they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a typically British tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
