"Parents based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a infant.
Many of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted interest in the news, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.
He explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", said he. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
