"A family residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial element of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have already been received since the unnamed family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received notice in the media, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their infant.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily create the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
