"A family based in north London seeks an remarkable and experienced instructor to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it might be the most important part of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted interest throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that despite first skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor 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 commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who express those reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
