"A family located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily miss the term "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who share these concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and living both cultures. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily create the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
