"A family residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained attention in the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is rather osmotic," explained Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant said the tutor must be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he said 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 about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
