"A family residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it may be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received interest in the press, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that despite early skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", could the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied he. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have similar reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not automatically create the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the situation that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
