"A family based in north London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have since been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice in the news, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that in spite of initial scepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied he. "They know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have those doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
