"A family residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to support their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the most important part of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained notice across the media, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early doubt, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about success and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "They know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
