"Parents located in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant element of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received attention in the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of first skepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The family know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who have those concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
